Bullet Points: Backdraft 2

If you’ve ever wanted to be in the fire service and you’re under the age of 40 then it’s probably due in part to Backdraft. Kurt Russell could play any role in the 80’s/90’s and instantly turn it into one of the coolest jobs in the world and who wouldn’t want to fight a raging fire by throwing an exploding fire extinguisher into it? Little did we know back then that fighting fires involves way more than rescuing screaming women and hazing William Baldwin. If watching Band of Brothers is the show that makes me want to re-enlist in the Army then Backdraft is the movie that makes me want to dive headfirst into a burning building and drag some people out. Most of the actors from the original Backdraft do not return for this sequel but there is still potential for someone to haze Billy Baldwin. I’m in!

Synopsis: The sequel to the 1991 hit follows an investigator with the Chicago F.D., who has to track down an arms dealer who use deadly fires as a distraction.

• I’m a fireman: It’s pretty cheesy but our opening scenes introducing Sean McCaffery involve him solving a fire within minutes and then busting the guy responsible like it’s no big deal. He’s an arson investigator who has a special relationship with fire based on his years being around his father and grandfather and his obsession with learning about its behavior. I had no idea that this movie would feature the young McCaffery as a fire investigator, which seems much less cinematic than a guy fighting fires, but that’s what we have to work with.
• Fire Marshall Sean: It doesn’t matter what Joe Anderson’s name is in Backdraft 2. It matters not which jacket he wears while cruising around Chicago. This just isn’t the same type of film as the original Backdraft. Don’t take that as a huge negative, however. BD2 feels like its own movie instead of just an un-welcome sequel that no one asked for. It’s focus on the young McCaffery as an arson investigator instead of William Baldwin’s now Chief McCaffery was actually a really smart move. I would be surprised if fans of the original are going to abandon the movie without the elder McCaffery being the focus but having Joe Anderson lead the film just might create new fans.

• Arsonist Hannibal Lector: Backdraft 2 definitely needed a shot of adrenaline given its main character isn’t actively fighting fires and it does so with the type of investigations he does. It also greatly needed a bit of help in terms of supporting actors and Donald Sutherland’s Ronald Bartel has that in spades. He was the antagonist in the original film and plays something of a Hannibal Lector to Sean McCaffery’s Clarice. He makes every scene he’s in must see and that is a sign of a wonderful casting addition.
• Arms race: While investigating some of the crazy fires going on in the city of Chicago Sean McCaffery and his new partner played by Alisha Bailey learn that a serial arsonist has been causing the fires at the behest of a weapons manufacturer. It’s much less interesting to me than some crazy kook like Donald Sutherland being obsessed with “the dragon” and talking to fire but it works for the tone of the film.

• Sean and Maggie: Their relationship as partners starts off a little rocky, as you might expect. Neither of them are the most friendly of people but they quickly learn that they have way more in common than they originally thought. It’s interesting to me that the actors for both roles are British while the original had Kurt Russell and William Baldwin in the main roles (two VERY American actors). I would say the performances by the actors in the film are what keeps it from being just another lame attempt at a sequel 25 years too late.

The Verdict: Just because a movie is getting a sequel nearly 30 years later doesn’t mean that people were begging for it. Quite the opposite, really. The fact that it took so long for the movie to get made should tell you that many of the people who may see this movie in the future aren’t doing so because the original Backdraft moved them so much when they were kids. Sometimes, though, getting a sequel 30 years later is better than not getting one at all and I think that Backdraft 2 is good enough on its own merits to warrant a watch. It keeps enough from the original to stay true to the film being a sequel and not just another direct to video flick that piggy-backs off the name recognition but is original enough to actually be a solid film. While I think the actors do a fine job in their roles I would be lying if I said these characters are as interesting or memorable as the ones in the original. My advice would have been to make Sean McCaffery more relatable to the audience, but what do I know? It’s also not the type of movie that glorifies the fire service like the original back in the day, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone watching a movie in 2019.