Click to read the article
Into the Fire (2005)
Synopsis: Sean Patrick Flanery gives a powerful, intricate performance in Michael Phelan's emotional post-9/11 drama, INTO THE FIRE. Flanery stars as Walter Hartwig Jr., a lieutenant for the New York Harbor Unit. When a plane crashes into the river, Hartwig leads his team--which includes his... Sean Patrick Flanery gives a powerful, intricate performance in Michael Phelan's emotional post-9/11 drama, INTO THE FIRE. Flanery stars as Walter Hartwig Jr., a lieutenant for the New York Harbor Unit. When a plane crashes into the river, Hartwig leads his team--which includes his right-hand man, Sandy Manetti (Pablo Schreiber)--on a search and rescue mission. Hartwig finds a dead woman wearing white floating underwater, and he freezes up, needing to be pulled out by Manetti--but not before ripping off an ID bracelet from the victim. The incident brings up frightening memories for Hartwig, who lost his sister to the sea as a child. With his job on the line, he sends the bracelet to the victim's surviving sister, Sabrina Hampton (Melina Kanakeredes), while he also befriends June Sickles (JoBeth Williams), an older woman who lost her firefighting son too soon. Set primarily in Manhattan and on Coney Island (as well as in Queens and on Staten Island), INTO THE FIRE is a poignant, heart-wrenching film that examines love and loss in today's complex world. First-time director Phelan captures the relentless intensity that drives men and women to become cops and firefighters, seeking to help their fellow human being while also battling their own inner demons. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, JoBeth Williams, Melina Kanakaredes, Pablo Schrieber
DVD Info
Release:
Mar 4, 2007
DVD Features:
- Widescreen
Additional Release Material:
- Cast Biographies
- Trailers
Interactive Features:
- Interactive Menus
Reviews
Michael Phelan deserves points for chutzpah for daring to wallow in abject psychic misery in his debut film.
Phelan makes nice use of the New York locations, but all the trees in Central Park can't make up for a clichéd script and characters who speak entirely in platitudes.
The result is 93 very long minutes' worth of admirably committed actors putting themselves through the emotional wringer to very little end.
If there's an element of Into the Fire that isn't rank and offensive, I've failed to find it.
A 90-minute version of Collective Soul's "The World I Know" as directed by Scott Stapp.


Top Critic