Simply A Masterpiece

hyped garbage

Don't listen to the negative reviews

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's pretty obvious that the director has numerous Oscar nominations for cinematography, because the visuals look pretty spectacular. This in of itself makes the movie entertaining to watch, which is OK for a film that's really only intended to be a basic action flick. Forsythe, Amis and Glen do a good job helping Howie Long through the scenes. Even though he can't really act, Howie's likability and physical prowess make him fun to watch. I could easily delve into the problems of this film (which are numerous), but if you go in with very low expectations, you may come out pleasantly surprised. Firestorm is a fun little action flick with great visuals you can watch on a rainy day. It's certainly no worse than some of the other films of the same genre.

Firestorm is a rather standard action yarn with the hero (H.Long) one of those fearless firefighters who specialize in parachuting into the danger zones. Why this aspect is emphasized in the ads and intro I'm not sure - at one point Howie does parachute in during a critical point in the story and nearly kills himself in the process. All that shows is he should have walked in like a normal human being.The fire scenes themselves are pretty impressive, as the pic needs to show a forest on fire. This fire is purposely started to supposedly cover the tracks of an escaped master villain (sadistically played by Forsythe), who has hidden $37 million or so around the area. Now that I think about, no one ever did find that money, did they? The title refers to a particularly nasty type of fire; we get a glimpse of it at the end as it seems to spread over several acres in seconds. It looks impressive, but quite doubtful.Howie doesn't come off as truly awful in the heroic role, but he is kind of bland. He's got the physical look down easily, but for some reason, he was better suited as the villain's no.2 in "Broken Arrow"(96). This was his last attempt at an action star career. Forsythe tries really hard to be the scummiest villain ever - sort of a combo Lecter and a Malkovich villain - and, in some ways, he succeeds. But, by the end, you wonder, why was he trying so hard? Barry Pepper has an early role as one of Forsythe's assistants.

Jesse Graves (Howie Long) and Wynt Perkins (Scott Glenn) are firemen from a special force dedicated to extinguish fire in forests. Randall Alexander Shaye (Wylliam Forsythe) is a criminal who stole thirty-seven millions dollars and is in jail. He organizes his escape putting fire in the forest and working as a fireman volunteer in the prison. After some crimes and betrayals, he and three other bandits try to escape through the forest, where they meet the ornithologist Jennifer (Suzy Amis). Pretending they are firemen, they bring Jennifer with them as an `insurance policy'. Meanwhile, Jesse is in the forest trying to rescue them. This is another average and full of clichés action movie. William Forsythe acts well as a sadistic criminal, but most of the plot is so ridiculous that makes laugh. Situations like Jennifer trading the position with Jesse on the motorcycle, or Jennifer putting Jesse's knee in the right position, or Randall with an axe in the neck in one scene and fighting in the next one. What about capsize a boat like Jesse does? Therefore, a forgettable action movie. My vote is five.

For all of you who hate this movie, you are missing out. Stop thinking too hard. I enjoy a deep, intelligent thought provoking movie but for pure entertainment i like to turn to the likes of Firestorm because it is hilarious, pure camp. Howie Long's performance makes any of Segal's look Oscar deserving. The dialog is stupid, the action hilariously unbelievable and the story is laughable, and thats what its supposed to be.