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There has been talk of a sequel to Ron Howard’s 1991 arson drama Backdraft for some years now. Almost as soon as the first one was released there were people saying there should be a follow up and over the ensuing decades there have been repeated rumours that it was actually happening. Right now, in the midst of all the other legacy sequels, it is often spoken of as a near certainty. You’d think all of this discussion would have died down back in 2019 when they actually made one but no, that didn’t seem to register (despite bringing back William Baldwin and Donald Sunderland in their original roles) and still cinema goers have been hankering for a new take on this idea. (To be fair cinema goers might well have missed Backdraft 2 as it never saw the inside of a theatre.) I guess fire on screen is just exciting and when shot well it is a subject matter finds a wide and eager audience. 

Well the public might be getting what it wishes for to some extent as apparently the new Avatar film heavily features naked flames, with a new tribe of cyan Na’vi emerging from the volcanos (which sounds a bit dumb but it is an Avatar movie). Ron Howard himself also is making a new firefighter movie with Glen Powell, which is reportedly not a Backdraft picture but sounds like it might as well be, and we also have this, The Lost Bus, which tells the true story of how a coach driver, a teacher and a class of under tens survived being trapped in the middle of the devastating California Butt County wildfires in 2018. 

Of course Hollywood needs to handle this one sensitively, with eighty five people having lost their lives in that disaster and LA itself having recently been torn apart but similar events. This isn’t one that is going to have audiences enthusiastically applauding the spectacle. Who better to direct this then than Paul Greengrass, who previously made respectful films about 9/11 and the Norway camp massacre? 

If I’m honest this isn’t as gripping at the best of Greengrass’ work, although it keeps the tight focus on a few characters at the centre of the danger just as he did in Captain Phillips. This does ignore the stories of many other of the people involved of course, including those who didn’t make it, but like The Impossible and its treatment of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, the concentration on a few highlights the plight of the many in a way that huge crowds running away from the blaze would not (there is a reason why Titanic is not as moving as the disaster it features should merit). Having children in peril gives it a deserved power too. 

A lot of Captain Phillips’ success also came from the casting of Tom Hanks. This has Matthew McConaughey and he is good but here as ever he is a more brooding and contained presence. Along for the fated ride is America Ferrera who is better. It tells you all you need to know about the mainstream US film industry that Ferrera was Oscar nominated for Barbie but almost certainly won’t be for this but she should be. The narrative spends too much time on McConaughey’s Kevin first but when she comes on screen she lifts it. The child performances are impressive too and together they make this a very emotional experience (I cried at the end).

The fire effects are indeed impressive too. I’m sure some of it is CGI but it felt very real and Greengrass and his team manage all aspects expertly. There is an environmental and political message here as well and the fact that this is referenced in just one line but simmers underneath is indicative of the measure and balance Greengrass brings.

Since The Towering Inferno there have not been a huge amount of fire disaster stories on screen because they are hard to do. The fact they are few and far between adds to that demand of course, but it is indeed good to see one that respect its subject matter. 

Who needs Backdraft?