39
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhat I regret is that all of the expertise lavished on this movie couldn't have been put at the service of a more intelligent story about real firemen, real working conditions, real heroism, and the real craft and art of fire-fighting.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFire, as this movie makes clear, is nothing if not photogenic, and Howard has done a beautiful job of conjuring both its danger and its deceptive, primal beauty.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineNot only do the firefighting scenes evoke a feeling of gritty authenticity, but the fire itself really does seem to be alive.
- 50The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinWhile Mr. Howard ably maintains a strong forward momentum, Backdraft often feels directionless beneath its overlay of frantic activity. One clear story line would have been worth more than a series of subplots and tangents.
- Absolutely marvelous special effects are the salvation and the curse of this movie.
- 40Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumHoward, as usual, seems bent on mixing genres to make several movies at once--monster movie, crime movie, coming-of-age movie, and action-adventure movie (among others)--yielding an overall narrative that's not boring but not especially suspenseful or focused either.
- 30The New YorkerThe New YorkerGregory Widen's script is like a Mad parody played straight, full of "Scenes We Wouldn't Like to See."
- 30Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonDirector Howard is so mesmerized by the flames, he squirts formulaic lighter fluid over everything. A conflagration of hyped-up movie cliches, courtesy of George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic special effects shop, scalds your face.
- 25The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe flames sure look real, but everything else in Backdraft, director Ron Howard's inflatable ode to firefighters, seems about as genuine as a plastic log in an electric hearth. Howard's particular type of schmaltz works well enough in small dabs on comic canvases (Splash, Cocoon, even Parenthood), but pumped up to heroic proportions, the sentimentality is just plain silly - in this case, cheap melodrama on a two-hour jag.