Fire

A very high-quality film made, despite the cringe in the first 15 minutes and in places a lazy set-up, a very tense and coolly directed film with a cool Khabensky. I do not recommend missing it.

This film is very very good! It reinforces my respect for firefighters. They really are heroic and selfless. I think this is a must watch.

Impressing, astonishing, frighteningly beautiful shots of forest fires. Also an incredible scene of a woman giving birth stuck in a burning bus. Good acting, some humor here and there. But altogether a quite conventional hero and catastrophy story with stereotypical antiheros on the firefighter team and a hardly innovative father-daughter-son in law love and family drama and pathetic slow motion hero shots and patriotic vibes that remind of Armageddon and its likes. But still very entertaining and grippling due to the very worthwhile fire images and a duty that is unarguably indeed very heroic.

This was very well shot, and although the story's concept was awesome, it was way too long at 131 mins with some long dragged out and unnecessary scenes. The slow pacing didn't help either. You'd think with three writers the screenplay would be tight, but it was riddled with plot and technical issues, some laughable logic, and tons of ridiculous dialogue. Romans character was annoying, and there was too much "Top Gun" music and slow-mo scenes that were cringeworthy. Still, a decent one-time watch, especially for the stunning visuals. It's a generous 6/10 from me.

2017 saw the release of 'Only the Brave'. 2019 brought us 'The Bravest'. And in 2020 we saw the release of 'Fire' (also known as 'No Escapes').

'Fire' takes its time setting up the characters, but this made us get to know them, and ultimately root for them. Much of the film's long running time was made up of unnecessary humorist scenes, and the film only really gets direction and become serious around the 1-hour mark. Once there, it is a rollercoaster ride of suspense and excitement, filled with drama and emotion.

The film's main protagonist is Andrey (Konstantin Khabenskiy), who leads a fire fighting team. After the death of one of his team members, he decides to include his daughter Katya (Stasya Miloslavskaya)'s new boyfriend, Roman (Ivan Yankovskiy) in his team. Roman is a bit of an arrogant deuce bag, to put it bluntly.

Of all the characters, I connected most to Lev (Viktor Dobronravov), who also had the best and most tragic back story. 'Fire' is a heroic tale of bravery against all odds. It is filled with action, suspense, and great visual effects (some of the fire scenes are actual footage).

'Fire' is a much better film than 'Only the Brave' (which, by the way, I didn't enjoy at all), but 'The Bravest' still remains my favourite.