On Fire

Yet another movie that I had never heard about, "On Fire" from directors Peter Facinelli and Nick Lyon immediately caught my attention when I saw that cover. I am a sucker for natural disaster movies, despite the majority of the movies being questionable. But I had never heard, much less seen, "On Fire" before, so of course I opted to give the movie a chance.

The storyline is pretty straightforward, and I will say that it is a fair enough watchable movie, though hardly anything outstanding. So writers Nick Lyon and Ron Peer didn't really deliver something out of the ordinary here. And yeah, it was essentially also a very predictable and somewhat generic storyline actually. But hey, if you enjoy natural disaster movies, "On Fire" is definitely well-worth sitting down to watch.

There are a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Peter Facinelli (whom also co-directed the movie), Fiona Dourif, Glenn Morshower and of course the iconic Lance Henriksen. So I will say that the the cast ensemble in the movie was definitely good. The acting performances in the movie were good.

Visually then "On Fire" was good. The effects were fair and looked real enough, though I have to admit that I had a hard time buying into the characters ever were in any real danger. And that sort of took away from the overall impression of the movie.

Watchable for what it was, "On Fire" is hardly a movie that warrants a second viewing, as there isn't enough contents to the storyline for that. But it definitely is a movie worth sitting down to watch if you enjoy natural disaster movies.

Ultimately, then the movie's cover/poster over-sold the movie by a landslide. The cover/poster was way more interesting than the movie turned out to be. A sad fact, actually.

My rating of directors Peter Facinelli and Nick Lyon's 2023 movie "On Fire" lands on a five out of ten stars.

The fire was done very well, and showed the real dangers of living in the woods and how fire can spread so fast. And with featuring the 911 staffing, showed how quickly things can change when fire spreads from strong winds. What seems couldn't happen becomes what does happen. The weakness is the script, as the actors do a good job showing their skill, their danger and the ability to think quickly. And the father Dave, risked everything for his family. Rated PG-13, it was watered down into too much of a formula driven script. But that is more the reality of what is necessary than the fault of the execution of the production. It needed to be acceptable for family viewing. It seems to be a lot of real fire, along with some CGI fire, but maintained the tension.

As a former Firefighter/EMT I found this film to be infuriating, especially because it was based on a true story! After fighting numerous wildfires in the backcountry, a firefighter's worst nightmare is dealing with unprepared citizens and an inept Incident Commander that endangered the lives of those employees & citizens who were properly trained.

If the details presented were accurate, the family portrayed should be chastised for their ignorance while residing in the obviously heavily wooded area! Using Google to research emergency procedures should have been a priority BEFORE A FIRE 🔥! Being insured, clearing defensive space & preparing a GO BAG are priorities! Preparation is everything.

Oh goodness. Why didn't somebody stop them!

The story in its essence was very good, however the delivery is idiotic. Over directed in the most silly, childish ways; melodrama past any point of sanity, and poorly written so that it loses all sense of reality. In fact, this should have been fantastic because the essence of the survival story is extraordinary, but because the writing is so lacking, and the direction is horrifically childish, over the top and silly, they lost all the power it should have had. They should have studied Ron Howard's Backdraft to understand the power of a "fire" movie and what it could have been, not whatever they looked at as their example.

This was embarrassingly bad, and for no good reason other than too much ego to go hire a real, decent Director, and Writer. Even an excellent Director could have worked with this idiotic script and made it work. It would have been an entirely different film. Sad they didn't do that.

It was good however,feel a few changes might of made this better.. It had clichés,plotholes & parts might feel contrived.

Although love Fiona in past work,she was miscast for this part.

The CGI was decent enough to draw you into the fire storyline,however some dialog & such failed occasionally.

The cinematography felt low quality,but have seen worse in productions.

Overall acting & casting was ok,was hoping Lance H would of had a more pivotal role.

This movie was poorly marketed & considering enjoy Peter F movies,plus him having major involvement such as directing that's unfortunate.

This movie is worth seeing-even once.. It brings family,faith & survival during a desperate time.