| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Producer:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
Brian McCaffrey: William Baldwin (Born on the Fourth of July, Fair Game, Internal Affairs, Sliver, Three of Hearts) Donald Rimgale: Robert De Niro (Awakenings, Backdraft, Brazil, A Bronx Tail, Cape Fear, Casino, Cop Land, The Deerhunter, The Fan, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Great Expectations (1997), Guilty By Suspicion, Heat, Jackie Brown, Jacknife, The King Of Comedy, Mad Dog and Glory, Marvin's Room, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Mean Streets, Midnight Run, The Mission, New York New York, Night and the City, Raging Bull, Ronin, Sleepers, Taxi Driver, This Boy's Life, The Untouchables) Ronald Bartel: Donald Sutherland (The Assignment, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dirty Dozen, Disclosure, Fallen, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, JFK, Klute, MASH, Lock Up, National Lampoon's Animal House, Ordinary People, Outbreak, Six Degrees of Separation, A Time To Kill) Jennifer Vaitkus: Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Big Picture, Dolores Claiborne, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Hitcher, The Hudsucker Proxy, Kansas City, Last Exit To Brooklyn, Miami Blues, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, Rush, Short Cuts, Single White Female, A Thousand Acres, Washington Square) John Adcox: Scott Glenn (Absolute Power, Carla's Song, Firestorm, The Hunt For Red October, The Right Stuff, Silence of the Lambs) Helen McCaffrey: Rebecca De Mornay (Guilty as Sin, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Risky Business, The Three Musketeers (1993)) Alderman Marty Swayzak: J.T. Walsh (The Big Picture, Breakdown, A Few Good Men, Hoffa, Needful Things, The Negotiator, Nixon, Pleasantville, Red Rock West, The Russia House, Sniper, TV: "Dark Skies")
Backdraft is the term given to a build of gas and the way it explodes with rage once given a hint of oxygen. It's this type of incident that an arsonist is suspected of setting up all around the city of Chicago. Stephen (Kurt Russell) and Brian McCaffrey (William Baldwin) are warring brothers, placed on the same team at the former's insistence since his brother is fresh out of graduation. After many part-time jobs, Brian wants to see if he's cut out for a career as a firefighter since you can appreciate him being put off for life when, twenty years ago as a young boy, he saw his own father being killed in the line of duty. Robert De Niro is arson investigator Donald Rimgale, nicknamed "Shadow", convinced that these extreme fires that are breaking out are as a direct result of arson and he's determined to get to the truth; Scott Glenn is an experienced fireman who has been around the block several times and has worked with both generations of the McCaffrey family; Donald Sutherland is in jail for arson and his cameo proves his character isn't quite all there as he explains his love for creating fire to appear where it shouldn't do; Jennifer Jason Leigh was the love of Brian's life six years ago before he left town. Now he's been back, perhaps they'll get back together, but what won't help is the fact that she's working for Alderman Marty Swayzak (the late, great J.T. Walsh), a man running for town mayor and likely to get it too considering the cutbacks he's made have impressed those in authority, despite him trying to cover up the fact that those cutbacks have led to three people being killed while on duty. Finally, Rebecca De Mornay plays Helen, Stephen's estranged wife and the film also follows their attempts to patch things up. There's not a single duff performance to be found here in a film that's well written and directed, with Baldwin and Russell convincing as the brothers McCaffrey. The effects are incredible as the fire explodes around town in scenes that were deemed by real-life firefighters as true and realistic.
The picture is mostly free of obvious artifacts, but there is a level of grain present throughout the film. When fire explodes, it still looks good from the usual viewing distance. However, it does lose a point for not being anamorphic and there's no reason for it not to be. It certainly makes history for Columbia as being the first widescreen title that isn't enhanced for widescreen televisions and as such there's no way you can zoom the picture in to almost-fill a widescreen TV while viewing the subtitles, since they appear under the image. The film was presented in 2.35:1 at the cinema, but this widescreen print is framed at approximately 2.10:1. Having been filmed in Super-35, you don't lose any side information, but gain some picture height. The average bitrate is a very good 7.75Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s. The sound quality, unlike the picture, is first-rate. Clear dialogue, the creepy movement of the flames, some superb songs from Bruce Hornsby and the Range (The Show Goes On and Set Me In Motion), The Smithereens (A Girl Like You), Cream (Sunshine of Your Love) and Edwin Starr (War). Couple this with powerful score from Hans Zimmer, the main theme from which I recently heard of Classic FM and it still hadn't lost the impact. In fact, it made me wish the disc had come with an isolated score but then it doesn't have much in the way of extras. The sound is available in English with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.
When designing the new ACME burglar alarms,
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As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
