“It’s a living thing, Brian. It breathes, it eats, and it hates.”

Justin’s rating: RUN DAMN YOU

Justin’s review: There’s no doubt that cops, lawyers, and doctors are far overrepresented in media, but what is puzzling is how underrepresented firefighters are. Sure, there is the occasional production, but the difficulty of filming with open flame makes a firefighting movie a rare thing indeed — even 35 years after Ron Howard’s Backdraft became a minor hit.

I must’ve watched Backdraft a good dozen times as a teen and found it to be an underrated thriller that wraps a couple good plots around some impressive practical effects. It’s a family drama and a murder mystery, all set to flambé.

Brian (William Baldwin) is an aspiring firefighter who can’t get any respect from his overbearing brother Stephen (Kurt Russell), even as he’s assigned to Stephen’s station in Chicago. Tension and bad choices lead to Brian getting reassigned to assist Shadow (Robert DeNiro), an arson investigator who’s looking into a series of murders using a very specific fire setup.

This is where the movie gets a little more interesting, giving Shadow time to wax poetic about the nature of fire and add some mystery to the proceedings. We also get a tour of firefighter culture, with its swaggering bravado and real battles against an out-of-control element.

The pyrotechnic effects are — mostly — done extremely well and accentuated by a pulsing score and goofy animal-like growling effects. We also get to see some of the aftermath of these fires and how badly they can burn and scar the very people who jump into harm’s way.

Now, it’s not like the mystery is that mysterious (there are only so many possible suspects in the cast), and it’s hard to bear how much of a jerk Stephen is to William. That’s why I’m happy to see the two parted for the center part of a film. It also makes way for a fun bit starring Donald Sutherland as an imprisoned firebug. Call me strange, but it’s the role that I’ll always remember him for the most. Don’t know why, but I do.

There’s definitely a heavy streak of Top Gun-style machismo here that either makes you pump your fist and cheer or roll your eyes and wish they got blasted with a cold shower. It doesn’t have to be one or the other; Backdraft is both extremely hokey and pretty entertaining. Baldwin’s the weak link here, but he’s surrounded by Russell, Sutherland, DeNiro, and Scott Glenn to make it up in the acting department, so it more than averages out.

As a movie about firefighters, Backdraft is often on shaky ground, but as a movie with firefighters, it’s a victory lap of ’80s excess, schmaltz, and popcorn fun.

Intermission!

• There was a Backdraft attraction at Universal Studio until 2010
• You can bring kids on fire calls, because it’s family time!
• Am I the only one who finds it a little strange that Kurt Russell plays his own father?
• Firefighters like to play with hoses
• Oof, blown right back into a car
• Dang it’s weird to see Robert DeNiro as a younger man
• 8-track player
• He rescued a dummy, well, he’s never living that down
• …and he doesn’t
• Training montage! Drinking from the fire hose and chasing down chickens!
• “Don’t let it know you’re scared!”
• The melted baby doll
• “He’s the one with the hat. What a treat.”