Backdraft
HD DVD Title: Backdraft Rated: R Screen format: 1080P 2.35:1 Studio: Universal First theatrical release: May 24, 1991 Previously released on DVD/BluRay: Multiple, including a simultaneous release of a 2 disk special edition on this disk’s release date Director: Ron Howard Starring: Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, and Robert De Nero Sound Formats: English Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, French and Spanish DD 2.0 Length: 2 hours, 18 minutes Subtitles: English, Spanish, French |
Plot: 5/5
In Backdraft, Ron Howard established his capacity as a world class director by combining a solid human interest story with spectacular effects, stirring soundtrack and score, and a little young lust to boot. Featuring a stunning ensemble cast, Backdraft tells the story of two brothers, Brian (William Baldwin) and Stephen ‘Bull’ (Kurt Russell) McCaffrey, born to be Chicago firefighters. After witnessing their father die during a fire, Brian struggles with the desire to be a firefighter and the fears he carries from that event. Stephen, on the other hand, has embraced his career, for all that is good and bad about it, and become an ambitious veteran. As Backdraft opens, Brian has graduated from the academy and will have his work cut out from him in order to live up to his big brother’s expectations, or at least not give up on his own dreams. The main dramatic elements the men of Station 17 face, outside the fires themselves, are found in a sleazy politician (an almost unrecognizable JT Walsh) and a murderous arsonist who has both an axe to grind and unlikely insight into the firefighting mindset, and these elements provide the vehicle for Brian to confront his past and his brother.
While Backdraft does a fair amount of over glamorization of the fire fighting lifestyle and features over the top special effects (which actually help the viewer accept the fires themselves as a villainous character in the movie), where it excels is in depicting the camaraderie of the crews, the shared brotherhood of the job, and the highs and lows that these men face.
Sound Quality: 4.5/5
There is very little to argue about and a lot to like with regards to the sonic presentation of Backdraft. Featuring almost-constant, full wraparound of 5.1 ambient effects, which range from the subtle sounds of nature in quieter moments, to the full roar of flames engulfing the firemen, this is definite demo material territory. Backing that up is a stirring score from Hans Zimmer, which many viewers may immediately recognize as having been re-purposed by cooking show, The Iron Chef. Also featured are a number of songs from Bruce Hornsby which have been interspersed with the music the men listen to as well as the traditional fife and drum music heard at parades. The sound in this movie truly stands out, has a very wide range of types and styles, and adds to the dramatic ebbs and flows of the story.
Visual Quality: 5/5
Quite simply, this is the best looking HD DVD in my library so far, and the print itself is much cleaner than recent fare that Universal has released. The sharpness of each scene is mind boggling, and there is no question that this is a high definition capture. There is zero edge enhancement, there is zero artifacting, there is no distracting grain, and very very few pops, speckles or other damage to the print are evident. The color palette is strong and bold in the action sequences, accurately captures the urban landscapes the firefighters live in, and features solid blacks and shadow detail throughout. Add in the incredible special effects, which have not diminished in impressiveness in the 15 years since release, and there are few films you will be tempted to reach for when looking for demo material.
Extra Features: 4.5/5
First, the bad news. All of the extras are, unsurprisingly, in non-anamorphic standard definition. Truth be told, some of them look relatively bad. For once tho, I am tempted to forgive this, for a very specific reason: this version of Backdraft is remarkable in that it packs all of the content found on the 2 disk DVD version (also released at the same day) onto a single sided HD DVD along with the movie. Obviously we would have liked to have seen them in full HD resolution, but perhaps that is still asking too much on a medium this new. What is unusual is that the DVD is labeled a special edition and yet this version is not!
First up is a short introduction by director Ron Howard. This intro is overly self congratulatory and was a real turnoff to me, but at least it was obvious that he had a lot of pride in this movie. Next is between twenty and thirty minutes of deleted scenes, presented in the order they would have been in the film had they not been cut. We see Brian’s struggle to rejoin the academy, and several subplots that were wisely excised as they change the tone of the whole film, and would have revealed too much about the other actors. Wise decision to cut them, but excellent background and insightful to see what was cut in order to streamline this film.
The bulk of the extras are found in 5 excellent featurettes. In Igniting the Story, we learn how Howard and producer Brian Grazer brought the script to life and get some behind the scenes insight into what they wanted to accomplish with this film. Bringing together the Team is instructional in showing how real life firefighters, actors and special effects team worked together to make the groundbreaking fire fighting elements. The Explosive Stunts goes in depth into the technical hurdles that were leapt over in filming the extraordinary stunt firefighting. In Creating the Villain, we learn how the script, the direction and the effects combined to make the fire itself into an uncredited role. Real Life Firemen, Real Life Stories brings a Californian firefighting team in to discuss how they feel about the movie and what it meant to them.
Definite dings against the feature list for not having a commentary or the original trailer. Those are more damning omissions in the DVD version labeled as a Special Edition, but they are missed on this version as well. Still, compared to the anemic extras we are used to getting on HD disks, this is a nice batch!
Overall: 5/5 (not an average)
Bravo Universal, simply Bravo. By combining a timeless and exciting film with the full force of crystal clear audio/video transfers and a meaty selection of extras, we finally have a release worthy of the title ‘The Look and Sound of Perfect’. Of course there is still room for improvement, but this is hopefully the first of many many films that get the treatment they deserve on this format, not simply repackaged and slapped into the marketplace to a public all too hungry to feed their growing appetite for Hi-Def. Backdraft is a movie that celebrates the hero we all have inside of us, and is a fitting and moving tribute to a noble profession. Highly Recommended!
