Backdraft 15th Anniversary
Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review
By: Erik Swift
January 2007
|
1991 is one of those years Hollywood wishes happened more often: a year that took off out of the gate. Eventual Best Picture-winner “The Silence Of The Lambs” premiered on Valentine’s Day with literally the year’s best acting (Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins both picked up statuettes for their roles). Mario Van Peebles’ “New Jack City” was the first film that year to wrestle with rampant gangland crime, and the other, John Singleton’s “Boyz N The Hood,” made its 24-year-old rookie the youngest Best Director nominee to date. Further 1991 twists featured not one but three roles Keanu Reeves fit (“My Own Private Idaho,” “Point Break” and yes, “Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey”), a deuce for Nick Nolte (as part of the astounding ensemble in Scorsese’s remake of “Cape Fear,” then his Oscar-nominated turn in “The Prince Of Tides) and one English accent Kevin Costner couldn’t pull off if his life depended on it (“Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves”). Two huge special-effects extravaganzas packed theaters that summer – James Cameron’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and Ron Howard’s firefighter saga “Backdraft.” The former has multiple DVD editions that keep topping the one before, while the latter never scored it until now. Arriving in a double disc 15th anniversary set from Universal, “Backdraft” finally has its overdue DVD love.
Forget the overblown recent fluff of “Ladder 49” or the star-studded ‘70s cheese of “The Towering Inferno.” “Backdraft” is the story of a pair of firefighting brothers, the gruff vet Stephen (Kurt Russell) and his younger recruit brother Brian (William Baldwin), who has yet to escape his older sibling’s lifelong scorn for a fateful incident two decades earlier. Brian wants to jump into his late father’s – and Stephen’s – squad except Stephen is the station’s death-defying ace who has enough problems at home without his little brother becoming another. “Backdraft” follows the pair as they fight flames and a serial arsonist, and yes, it is better than that sounds.
Howard made the best film about firefighters by both sticking to the basics and forging new territory. This is largely because of whopping special effects and incredible sound that brought “Backdraft” three Oscar nominations. The film’s illustration of the initial beauty and subsequent horror of fire is a first; any shot or sound of it would stop traffic. Much of the film’s realism come from Chicago’s finest themselves, and shooting in the Windy City provided those that moonlit as actors a chance to mix business with pleasure (cast members Cedric Young, Jack McGee and Kevin M. Casey were current or former firefighters, and many more appear as extras).
Having a script penned by a former Laguna Beach fireman (Gregory Widen) adds authenticity and life to a film that embraces fire as a living, breathing animal. However, said script is thinner than Tom Cruise’s star power. At 138 minutes, actors come and go while “Backdraft” struggles to examine the effect of firefighting upon men and their families – Rebecca DeMornay’s transparent role as Stephen’s estranged wife barely registers, but Robert DeNiro’s brief moments as arson inspector Donald Rimgale and Donald Sutherland’s cameo as a jailed arsonist will rip away the daydreamers. Some characters are sketchy, the dialogue needs work and the film is WAY too long but some scenes redefine “mind-blowing,” especially the climactic fire. Go widescreen so every inch is in view, too.
Disc 1’s 43 minutes of deleted scenes is excessive, so skip everything but chapters 19 and the portion of chapter 33 with DeNiro and Russell, which have the best acting, and chapters 21-22 feature more Sutherland/DeNiro scenes (also chapter 28 for some extra heat between Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh). While it’s cool to know Russell, Baldwin and Scott Glenn did a lot of their own stunt work or hear about the aggravating “ash-o-matic”, the best part of the second disc’s 70 minutes of bonus features is its final entry. Watching members of Santa Clarita’s Station 73 chat about their jobs is watching heroes at work that every kid – and adult – should look up to, and their words bring further humanity to the backstory of “Backdraft.” This 15th anniversary edition gets points for its remastered sound and a smoking new transfer that enhances Howard’s eye-popping wonder. An honest work that equally charms and scares, “Backdraft” has gotten even better.
Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!
Loading ...
