The Great Fire Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Great Fire Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 20, 2017

Just ask Roland Emmerich if the Disaster film is a viable genre. He's more or less made a career out of making them, with films like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 setting precedents for mass cinema destruction and apocalyptic turmoil-as-entertainment. San Andreas and the upcoming Geostorm are other examples, as are some of the classics of the genre, like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure. But they all have one thing in common: they're all set in modern times, showing the contemporary world burning, flooding, crumbling, whatever the case may be. But disaster didn't just start striking in the 1970s. Oh, no. Whether flood, famine, earthquake, or fire, the world has been long plagued unthinkable tragedy. But those old-time tragedies wouldn't seem to make for good "entertainment," if pain and suffering can be made "entertaining," anyway. For one of the more recent Disaster stories, PBS has gone way back into history to make a miniseries about the Great London Fire of September 1666. It's not as famous the Titanic or the Hindenburg, but it's one of the great tragedies of human civilization that's finally been given its due in a solid all-around miniseries.

PBS' The Great Fire is divided into four parts that explore London's Great Fire, raged from September 2 - September 5, 1666. The story unfolds from multiple perspectives. As with many Disaster films, sprawling character rosters and a range of locations are introduced and explored prior to the disaster itself striking. It can be a bit overwhelming for the first part, but the characters gradually come more into focus, their possible fates grow a little more clear, and their place in the story becomes more firm, both before the fire engulfs the city and certainly as it rages. The series begins on Pudding Lane inside a bakery where it is believed the fire began. The series alternates between the plight of the commoners as the fire rages around them and within Whitehall and the court of King Charles II where the fire sometimes seems like a distant annoyance rather than a tragedy of epic scale and historical significance.

Even with its historical setting all but ensuring the absence of the genre's usual action scene staples modern-set Disaster films provide -- vehicles escaping crumbling roads or buildings, high-tech systems frantically put into use to try and stave off, maybe lessen, or at least predict where disaster will strike -- the series doesn't lack intensity and drama. By the halfway point, with the fire uncontrollably raging, the audience all but feels the heat and certainly feels the despair and the fear. Drama carries this series, and even without the multimillion dollar visual effects of a Summer blockbuster, that intensity of story carries it well beyond the capabilities of any special effect. Another aid is the juxtaposition between the King's opulent lifestyle and nonchalance and the plight of the commoners struggling to survive and save what little they have. The Navy cannot pay its debts to the city. When authorities plan to demolish houses in an effort to stop the fire's spread, homeowners cannot be promised compensation for their loss because the King's treasury has long been empty. The contrast between life on the ground and life in the lap of luxury, both of which are barely hanging on before and after the fire, add just as much, if not more, thematic intensity to the program than the fire itself, which essentially brings all of the economic woes and the various struggles to the forefront.

Andrew Buchan is excellent in the part of Thomas Farriner, the baker at whose shop the fire begins. He portrays a tortured father who fights with all he has to protect his children and his nephew from the fire while also fighting its spread. His character evolves from something of a villain -- the man at the center of the fire's origins -- to a hero who sacrifices and fights to save his family and his city. His heroic stature only rises when he returns to the inferno to rescue others once his children are safe. Jack Huston’s portrayal of King Charles II is also a high point for the series. His nonchalance towards the fire evolves into a desire to stop it, of course only once it has spiraled completely out of control. Huston bring a sense of naivety about the way his world, and his rule, really work. His lifestyle has rendered any aid he might be able to provide null, and he eventually finds himself entangled in a conspiracy theory that the fire was deliberately started to undermine his rule. Further, Daniel Mays convincingly portrays Samuel Pepys, playing the part of the unpopular advisor to the king who tries to convince him to stop the fire before it spreads any further.

Lacking the high-dollar visual effects does not mean that the series limps in other areas. Whether the obvious poverty in which the commoners live or the opulence of the king's palace and lifestyle, The Great Fire takes care to contrast the dueling life positions very well. Sets and costumes are believably intricate, showing a healthy contrast between life on the ground and life at the regal upper-crust. That contrast only enhances the plights the commoners as they fight to save what little they have -- as well as flee with their lives -- while the king all but fiddles until it's too late.

The Great Fire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Great Fire arrives on Blu-ray from PBS with 1080p transfer that holds rather strong, never excelling but never showing too many deficiencies, either. For the most part, the digitally sourced image pleases. It's certainly a little flat and even somewhat pasty. Colors are not a strength, delivering adequate depth and saturation but rarely commanding the screen with rich vibrancy and lifelike definition. Whether raging fire, green around the palace, or more brightly diverse regal clothes, the image never quite gets to that point of eye-popping saturation. Skin tones suffer from that same pastiness and can push a little rosy, even away from the fires. Black levels do hold rather deep, particularly the inky backgrounds in dank prisons. Detail is by-and-large good. Little frays and lesser fabric qualities are evident on peasant attire while the more ornate regal costumes offer more in the way of tangible texturing. Old woods, fine palace appointments, and stone prison walls all reveal satisfying textures, though the digital source and inherent mild pastiness prevent the image from often exploring the true nitty-gritty textures otherwise available to it. Skin details range from a bit flat to pleasantly intimate. Few artifacts or source anomalies are present; even dense smoke rarely shows the sort of banding or blockiness one might expect to see in a lesser transfer.

The Great Fire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Great Fire's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack offers only a spark of what one might hear in a similar venture given a much larger budget, but generally speaking the track serves the material well enough. It's certainly lacking the richness and vitality one might hope to hear, and a few shortcomings are obvious, such as occasional bouts of crunchy and tinny dialogue and sound effects, whether horse hooves on surfaces or raging fires. Explosions and fireballs lacks serious punch and vigor, but there's enough general intensity to compliment the story. Frantic din surrounded by enflamed structures spread nicely enough out to the sides and deliver enough clarity to get the point across. Music is serviceably clear and adequately spaced, for the most part. Dialogue does enjoy good and firm center-imaged positioning.

The Great Fire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc Blu-ray release of The Great Fire contains no supplemental content.

The Great Fire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Great Fire reveals the perfect storm that led to London's Great Fire many centuries ago. A richly crafted period piece where the fire is really more a propellant for the human interest drama and the juxtaposition between the lifestyles of the nobility and the common man, it's engaging and very well done, rising above its comparative lack of high-end computer effects in favor of a texturally rich story of survival and economic realities that are exposed in tragedy. It's very well done, nicely performed and put together, and should please fans of both the disaster and historical genres. PBS' Blu-ray comes featureless, but video and audio are adequate. Recommended.