This Review was submitted by Matt Allard 

This brilliant tale from Ron Howard (Apollo 13) of today's life and death struggle for firefighters first hit our screens back in 1991 (was it that long ago?). An all-star cast including Kurt Russell (Executive Decision), William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Donald Sutherland (Outbreak), and Robert DeNiro (HEAT) portray the struggle of  Chicago Firefighters trying to track down a arsonist.

There are some terrific performances in this movie- Kurt Russell (BULL) who plays the tough hard nosed firefighter- Scott Glenn (AXE) the old and wise dad of the outfit- and Donald Sutherland who plays Donald- the hannibal lector of the fire world. But the real star of this movie is the fire itself. The special effects (many of the stunts were done by the actors themselves) are spectacular, to say the least.

After watching this movie you'll never approach a closed door in the same way again!!! This is a fantastic movie with all the spills and thrills you'd come to expect from a Hollywood classic.

This film is expertly directed and shot and there is a great music score from Hans Zimmer. The visual effects and the sound of backdrafts sucking the air in will have you jumping over the back of your couch (you'll be cleaning up popcorn for weeks!!).

Has there ever been a better fire movie- let alone such realistic special effects? I think not. Not a movie that any collector should overlook!!! 


How does the transfer hold up?

This is one of the first Universal DVD's I bought, and as I expected the quality is on par with the general standard of their movies-GREAT!
With an abundance of fire, flames and smoke, this movie is a real test for the film to DVD transfer. Moving flames and explosions can often look too sharp or jumpy on DVD, but this transfer is very close to film indeed. The rich colours and high contrast levels in some of these fire scenes are excellent, not a trace of VHS quality here.

The Dolby Digital soundtrack is absolutely breathtaking. With the abundance of   explosions and fire fighting action, this is a great movie to demonstrate the magic of Dolby Digital. I've watched this film in Dolby Surround before and there is no comparison.

Some of you may be disappointed to find this movie is only presented in widescreen format, but as far as I'm concerned there's no other way to watch DVD's.
The special extra features are very good indeed, there's an extensive array of things to see and read about in the various menus- well done Universal!!
This is a killer movie that truly highlights the fantastic blend of DVD video and Dolby Digital Audio. A demo disc if I ever saw one!!!

I was lucky enough to have seen this at Megaplex home theatre concepts in Norwood, Massachusetts, during a demo night- I bought the title that night!!!!

TO SUM IT UP: EXPLOSIVE, SEAT GRIPPING, EMOTIONAL FIRE BOMB!!!

Review Equipment: Runco DTV-852 Video Projector, Meridian 586 DVD player, Theta Casablanca surround processor, Carver Av-806 6 channel power amplifier, Aerial model 8 front speakers, Aerial cc3 centre and Aerial SR3 surrounds,  2 Atlantic Technology 352 PBM THX subs. 

- Reviewed 18th September 1998