Firestorm

It's pretty obvious that the director has numerous Oscar nominations for cinematography, because the visuals look pretty spectacular. This in of itself makes the movie entertaining to watch, which is OK for a film that's really only intended to be a basic action flick. Forsythe, Amis and Glen do a good job helping Howie Long through the scenes. Even though he can't really act, Howie's likability and physical prowess make him fun to watch. I could easily delve into the problems of this film (which are numerous), but if you go in with very low expectations, you may come out pleasantly surprised. Firestorm is a fun little action flick with great visuals you can watch on a rainy day. It's certainly no worse than some of the other films of the same genre.

The preview for this film is actually more exciting to watch. It's really hokey; in the mold of Die Hard, I guess you could say. But aren't they all? The dialogue is kinda interesting, yet, very expectable. The best part - the cool action sequences. Basically just a low-budget movie with a big-budget, right?

This movie only lasts for barely 89 minutes. This makes me wonder if anything was cut out of the movie in the editing room. I think there was when I watch the film. It could have been so much more. What's left is a very brief and entertaining movie about a prison break. With very little Firestorm.

Many people have said that Howie Long's performance in this film is quite poor. I think that he did a fine job. I can honestly say his performance is totally adequate. William Forsythe is quite a decent villain too. Neither hammy nor campy. I'm glad he was in the movie.

But I'm not glad the film was a flop. It would have been a big hit if it was longer and had more plot. You can't call a film FIRESTORM and have only a few seconds worth of fire in it. I don't know what has been cut from this film but it has damaged it severely. Chris Soth is the only person credited with writing this film but rumor has it that Graeme Yost actually wrote the first draft but used his affiliation with the of the WGA to take if off after they hashed his script around too much.

Although it is bare-boned and anorexic it is still a cool film to watch.

This is kind of a Class B action film and it stars an ex-pro football player (Howie Long) making his debut in the movies. Because of that, I didn't expect much.

I was surprised. It's actually a good adventure story and Long was capable in his acting. He was aided by three fine actors who usually are interesting in whatever roles they play: Scott Glenn, Suzy Amis and William Forstyhe. Glenn is the best-known of the three but had the least lines in here. Forsythe was good at playing what he does best: the nasty villain.

This movie was also well-filmed with some nice closeup and camera angles. The only complaints were some dopey dialog in spots and a little too much profanity in spots. Otherwise, for a no-name movie starring a rookie actor it was better than I anticipated.

When I first heard of Firestorm, I thought it was going to be a blast, but it just didn't live up to my expectations. I had to admit, the dialogue was EXTREMELY lousy. Howie Long has to start reading his lines more. He seemed like a damn zombie when it came to his talking parts! But enough about the bad parts. I think this film had a lot of great action sequences, because it all seemed pretty realistic. If he would just work at it, Long would make an excellent action hero. Though he wouldn't make it to the level of Schwarzeneggar and Stallone, he would probably equal to the level with Dolph Lundgren, Wings Hauser, Gary Busey, and Bruce Campbell. Firestorm really reminded me of a lot like Cliffhanger, because they similar plot tones. Let's face it, this film is no Ben-Hur, but if you like action films that don't require a high IQ, Firestorm is your right choice.