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Movies / On DVD / Backdraft
Backdraft

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Backdraft (1991)

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70 %
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Reviews Counted:37

Fresh:26

Rotten:11

Average Rating:6/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: Two feuding brothers carry on a heroic family tradition in the Chicago Fire Department. Before the smoke clears, love affairs are rekindled and lives are shattered as the brothers fight to resolve... Two feuding brothers carry on a heroic family tradition in the Chicago Fire Department. Before the smoke clears, love affairs are rekindled and lives are shattered as the brothers fight to resolve their differences and solve a puzzling series of arson attacks, each ignited by explosive phenomena known as backdrafts. [More]

Starring: Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Starring: Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Donald Sutherland, Rebecca De Mornay, Robert De Niro

Director: Ron Howard

Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Gregory Widen
Composer: Hans Zimmer

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Backdraft

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The fire sequences are stunning, and the build-up to them, complete with blaring sirens and bellowed conversations, has an aggressive immediacy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Howard delivers exactly the kind of thoroughly entertaining commercial enterprise you might expect, only this one comes chock-full of breathtaking pyrotechnics allowing the ridiculous posturing of the two leads to take a back seat.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Backdraft may not be a very good movie, but it sure is great entertainment.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
01/16/09
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com

The film exploits Chicago's terrain of ethnic neighborhoods, political turf, and glorious modern architecture, but it has trouble when it comes in close to the personal level.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
02/05/08
Kathleen Maher
Kathleen Maher
Austin Chronicle

Backdraft has some of the raw filmmaking excitement that has been missing from Howard's recent work.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
02/05/08
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

Visually, pic often is exhilarating, but it's shapeless and dragged down by corny, melodramatic characters and situations.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
02/05/08
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's spectacular, yes, but that's not all. Not only do the firefighting scenes evoke a feeling of gritty authenticity, but the fire itself really does seem to be alive.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
02/05/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Visually speaking, the film does pretty well with fire-as-spectacle, less well with everything else (Howard tends to trot out fuzzy-toned Spielbergian backlighting on any pretext).

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
02/05/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

No review available.

comment Comment
04/20/07
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

An extremely old-fashioned tale about heroic firefighters (rival siblings...) with some good special effects, this is a typical Ron Howard picture in its middlebrow sensibility and sentimentality.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
02/24/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

simultaneously overblown and threadbare

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
09/27/06
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
01/20/06
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

No review available.

comment Comment
09/12/05
Nicolas Lacroix
Nicolas Lacroix
EnPrimeur.ca

Exciting firefighter adventures with all-star cast.

comment Comment
01/02/05
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

No review available.

comment Comment
08/31/04
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

No review available.

comment Comment
08/04/04
Linda Cook
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

No review available.

comment Comment
07/02/04
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
05/04/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
03/18/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Mocked by some, for reasons I can't fathom, I find it to be Howard's strongest film. Excellent cast.

comment Comment
08/16/03
Widgett Walls
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Backdraft

May 08, 2006: Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, and Cast Discuss "Poseidon" Adventure
Josh Lucas knows that actors have it easier than other people. But the making of "Poseidon" was an incredibly difficult undertaking, he said. "I never compare... More...

June 06, 2005: Dreyfuss, Russell & Rossum Climb Aboard the "Poseidon"
Richard Dreyfuss ("Jaws"), Kurt Russell ("Backdraft"), and Emmy Rossum ("The Phantom of the Opera") are the first high-profile cast members to... More...

May 25, 2005: Trailer Bulletin: "Sky High"
Yahoo! Movies brings us our very first look at "Sky High," which is Disney's cross between family comedy and superhero adventure flick. Kurt Russell... More...

See All

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