Backdraft may not be a very good movie, but it sure is great entertainment.
Comment
01/16/09
Backdraft (1991)
70
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:37
Fresh:26
Rotten:11
Average Rating:6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: Two feuding brothers carry on a heroic family tradition in the Chicago Fire Department. Before the smoke clears, love affairs are rekindled and lives are shattered as the brothers fight to resolve... [More]
Starring: Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Director: Ron Howard
Reviews for Backdraft
The film exploits Chicago's terrain of ethnic neighborhoods, political turf, and glorious modern architecture, but it has trouble when it comes in close to the personal level.
02/05/08
Backdraft has some of the raw filmmaking excitement that has been missing from Howard's recent work.
02/05/08
Visually, pic often is exhilarating, but it's shapeless and dragged down by corny, melodramatic characters and situations.
02/05/08
Top CriticIt's spectacular, yes, but that's not all. Not only do the firefighting scenes evoke a feeling of gritty authenticity, but the fire itself really does seem to be alive.
02/05/08
Visually speaking, the film does pretty well with fire-as-spectacle, less well with everything else (Howard tends to trot out fuzzy-toned Spielbergian backlighting on any pretext).
02/05/08
No review available.
04/20/07
An extremely old-fashioned tale about heroic firefighters (rival siblings...) with some good special effects, this is a typical Ron Howard picture in its middlebrow sensibility and sentimentality.
02/24/07
simultaneously overblown and threadbare
09/27/06
The fire sequences are stunning, and the build-up to them, complete with blaring sirens and bellowed conversations, has an aggressive immediacy.
01/26/06
No review available.
01/20/06
No review available.
09/12/05
Exciting firefighter adventures with all-star cast.
01/02/05
No review available.
08/31/04
No review available.
08/04/04
No review available.
07/02/04
No review available.
05/04/04
No review available.
03/18/04
Mocked by some, for reasons I can't fathom, I find it to be Howard's strongest film. Excellent cast.
08/16/03
Howard's burning ode to firefighters and the professional and personal lives they hope to conquer with devotion and defiance. A drama that convincingly spreads itself like a roaring blaze.
06/07/03
Latest News for Backdraft
May 08, 2006:
Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, and Cast Discuss "Poseidon" Adventure
Josh Lucas knows that actors have it easier than other people. But the making of "Poseidon" was an incredibly difficult undertaking, he said. "I never compare... More...
June 06, 2005:
Dreyfuss, Russell & Rossum Climb Aboard the "Poseidon"
Richard Dreyfuss ("Jaws"), Kurt Russell ("Backdraft"), and Emmy Rossum ("The Phantom of the Opera") are the first high-profile cast members to... More...
May 25, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: "Sky High"
Yahoo! Movies brings us our very first look at "Sky High," which is Disney's cross between family comedy and superhero adventure flick. Kurt Russell... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
Why Don't Australians Make Sci-fi? 
The New Matilda's Lynden Barber looks at the recent success of low-budget sci-fi -- and asks the question.
New Moon Portraits
TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.
Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter
Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.
Competitions
Win Star Wars prizes
Enough Prequel, Original Trilogy and Family Guy DVDs to fill a space cruiser
Win the entire 007 collection
Everything from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace could be yours.
Win Fight Club Special Editions and more
We're giving away the 10th Anniversary Blu-ray, plus Braveheart and the Rocky collection
IGN RSS Feeds