Firestorm Review

Firestorm is the feature directing debut of Australian cinematographer Dean Semler. He`s certainly chosen a topic that will resonate with Australian audiences, since his heroes are firefighters - the ones that parachute into the heart of the storm, called smokejumpers... heading the team is Jesse - Howie Long - he`s replaced his former chief and mentor Wynt - Scott Glenn - who`s been pensioned off after an accident. Jesse jumps feet first into drama when he sees a group of firefighters heading in the wrong direction with birdwatcher Jennifer - Suzy Amis - which is pretty appropriate, because these guys are actually gaolbirds, led by Shaye - William Forsythe - and it`s not too long before he shows his true colours and Jennifer and Jesse are running for their lives...Visually this is an exciting film, the firefighting scenes have an actuality to them that`s a terrifying reminder of what so many people in this country have gone through over the years. Plotwise...well.. plotwise we`re not treading any new forest pathways here; it`s a pretty ordinary story. I like Suzy Amis; she rarely plays a maiden in distress and she certainly holds her own in this...Howie Long has the sort of granite-jawed look that truly suits action films, and maybe only suits action films - he`s fine. Dean Semler chose Stephen Windon as his cinematographer - it`s interesting that our Oscar-winning cameraman chose another Australian to shoot for him. The film is really just another action film, it has some nice lines of dialogue, but maybe this debut as director could have been a bit more auspicious.