Backdraft 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Backdraft 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 18, 2019

It's not difficult to imagine the thought process behind bringing Backdraft 2 to the screen. "Hey," someone told Universal, or someone at Universal said. "Here's a really great Ron Howard film from 1991. You guys (or we) are already keen on making direct-to-video sequels of popular 90s films, so why not this one? Sign on a couple of that film's stars for expanded cameo roles, toss in some cheap digital fire effects, build a story around the next generation of McCaffreys, and BAM! Instant moneymaker!" On the flip side, it is difficult to envision the time that the filmmakers behind Backdraft 2 sat down with the finished script in hand, a storyboard layout up on the wall, and a plan of action in place and envisioned that anyone would actually care about the movie they were about to make. Here's a film that is a complete shell of the original, folding in some familiar names and faces but otherwise playing like an extended episode of some television procedural, and not a particularly good television procedural at that.

Sean McCaffrey (Joe Anderson) is an ace fire investigator working out of Chicago, the same city where both his grandfather and his father Stephen (both portrayed by Kurt Russell in the original film) gave their lives in the line of duty. He’s is assigned a partner, Maggie Rening (Alisha Bailey), and their first case is a difficult one: analyzing a horrific explosion that took the lives several trick-or-treaters. As their investigation runs its course, Sean finds himself in conflict with several prominent members of the department, not the least of which is his uncle Brian (William Baldwin). With more fires and few clues, the process ultimately leads Sean and Maggie to investigate a fire at Hunter Systems, a contractor struggling to make parts for advanced NATO missile systems. In a desperate final move, Sean turns to convicted arsonist Ronald Bartel (Donald Sutherland) for help.

Backdraft 2 certainly misses Ron Howard’s finessed hand, the original film’s more robust script, Hans Zimmer’s excellent score, and it certainly misses the practical fire visuals, mostly replaced here with chintzy and obviously digital cheapie flames that look less intense than a fireplace. Indeed, the film is an inferior shell of the original, one that strives to actually build some connective tissues but that really only returns Donald Sutherland and William Baldwin, the former of whom is literally rolled into the frame in a wheelchair for his part, so that the aging actors can cash another paycheck and that their names can be affixed to the cast (and not because the characters are necessarily vital to the movie, even if they are made out to be). It's a tiresome movie with little feel for the characterization that made the first so memorable, not to mention those intense and invigorating and legitimately dangerous infernos that Howard and his effects team so skillfully made a character in the first movie.

Backdraft 2 is thick on the technical side of the ledger, with the characters spitting out fire investigation techno-babble in several smoldering remains that always seems like it’s meant to distance the viewer from the unfolding story and revealed clues rather than build an authentic feel for the process. And the process is the movie’s focal point. It's almost entirely concerned with the aftermath of a fire rather than the more exciting process of fighting it. Much of the film is comprised of bland investigative procedurals rather than compelling narrative or character arcs, ultimately giving the film the feel of a TV show that fits tightly into an established formula rather than a feature film with more creative license and a larger scope. The acting is decent considering the characters are entirely forgettable, one of the few positives one can offer to an otherwise throwaway “sequel” almost three decades in the making.

Backdraft 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Backdraft 2 was digitally captured. The resultant 1080p transfer maintains a modest digital sheen, but textures are not flat or silky. On the contrary, there's a modest amount of grit and a good bit of textural complexity on display, whether considering basic skin details seen in tight character shots, Chicago city exteriors, or several different smoldering ruins where various parts of the investigation are conducted. The picture remains sharp corner to corner for the duration. Colors are punchy and consistently so, featuring a slightly warm contrast to livens up eyes and lips and brightly colored accents. Digital flames appear dull, which is a shame because in a firefighting movie it's fire that is usually one of the key visual components. But as an on-the-cheap support component here, it's OK. No signs of black crush or mishandled skin tones are evident. Noise does interfere in darker shots and even some bright daytime scenes, but there are no other compression or source maladies worth noting. The Blu-ray image looks quite good in the aggregate; it's too bad it's attached to a lousy movie.

Backdraft 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Backdraft 2's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack track is large, beginning with a deep low end notice. It's arguably a bit much at reference volume, at times. Narration is powerfully dominant in the opening seconds but things do settle down in the mostly dialogue-heavy dramatic components, which sonically define most of the film. Dialogue delivery is naturally clear, center focused, and well prioritized. There are some intense fire sounds: falling debris, crackling flames, and general chaos. It's nothing like what was heard in Backdraft because this film is almost entirely about a fire's aftermath rather than the time it's actually burning, but there are a few good examples of low end rush and immersive detail. Music is appropriately wide and detailed with some surround notes folded in.

Backdraft 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Backdraft 2 contains no supplemental content. The man menu screen offers only options for "Play," "Chapters," and "Setup." A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

Backdraft 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Forgettable characters, an overly busy plot, forced connections to the original, bad fire effects (truly, it's a amazing a film nearly 30 years older than this looks so much better), and so many more strikes make Backdraft 2 one of the most inconsequential films around. While one can laud the production for not simply cashing in on the name and trying to form some sort of connective tissue to the other one, the process fails the movie and results in snoozer that has no ideas on how to tell a story that's worth anything, how to introduce and build characters worth caring about, or what made the original so effective. It's the cinema equivalent of chum. Universal's featureless Blu-ray does offer hearty video and audio presentations. Skip it.