Backdraft 2 Dvd

[Liliane Hubright]

Backdraftis a 1991 American action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. Starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro, Jason Gedrick, and J. T. Walsh, it follows Chicago firefighters on the trail of a serial arsonist.

It was released on May 24, 1991 to favorable reviews, and grossed $152.4 million worldwide.[2][3] It received three Academy Award nominations for Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects. It also inspired a special effects attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, which opened in 1992 and closed in 2010. It was followed by the sequel, Backdraft 2 in 2019, with Baldwin and Sutherland reprising their roles.

Two firefighters of Engine 17 of the Chicago Fire Department are brothers. Lt. Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey, the elder, is experienced, while Brian has labored in his brother's shadow. Brian returns to firefighting after several other careers falter, though Stephen has doubts that Brian is fit to be a firefighter. In 1971, Brian witnessed the death of their firefighting father, Captain Dennis McCaffrey, while accompanying him on a call. The longest-serving of all the men at Engine 17, John "Axe" Adcox, served under the McCaffreys' father and was like an uncle to the boys when their father died. Adcox grows concerned about Stephen's unorthodox methods and disregard for safety procedures, as does Stephen's wife Helen, who separated from Stephen to protect herself and their son Sean from the risks he was taking.

Inspector Donald "Shadow" Rimgale, a dedicated arson investigator and veteran firefighter, is called in because some recent explosive fires resemble those set by pyromaniac Ronald Bartel, who has been imprisoned for years. Brian transfers to become Rimgale's assistant after an argument with Stephen. Rimgale manipulates Bartel's obsession with fire to ensure his annual parole application is rejected. It is revealed during an investigation that Chicago City Council alderman Marty Swayzak has supported fire department budget cuts. Contractors paid him off to shut down firehouses so they could be converted into community centers, with the contractors receiving contracts for the construction. Brian rekindles a relationship with Jennifer Vaitkus, an aide to Swayzak.

When Engine 17 answers a call in a high-rise, Stephen urges them to move in quickly, despite Adcox's advice to wait for backup. Brian's friend and fellow trainee, Tim Krizminski, opens a door, triggering a backdraft. His face is burned beyond recognition and he barely survives. Adcox and Brian both condemn Stephen for what happened. Through experiments, Rimgale concludes that whoever's causing the fires doesn't want the fires to spread, hence the backdrafts. Rimgale and Brian go to Swayzak's home to confront him after learning of his connection to the three backdraft victims (Alan Seagrave, Donald Cosgrove, and Jeffery Holcomb) and they interrupt a masked man about to set the place on fire. The man attacks them with a flashlight but is burned on his shoulder by an electrical socket. Rimgale saves Brian and Swayzak from the house but is injured in an explosion. In his hospital bed, Rimgale tells Brian to revisit Bartel, who helps Brian realize that only a firefighter would be so careful as to not let backdraft fires rage out of control.

Brian suspects Stephen but spots a burn in the shape of an electrical socket on Adcox's back and reveals his suspicions to his brother just before an alarm. When Brian realizes Adcox has heard their exchange, he jumps aboard Truck 46 after borrowing some turnout gear. On their way to the fire their truck crashes after dodging a taxi. Stephen confronts Adcox about the backdrafts during a multiple-alarm fire at a chemical plant. Adcox admits that he set the fires to kill Swayzak's associates because Swayzak benefitted from firefighters' deaths and closed down firehouses. When an explosion destroys the catwalk they are on, Stephen grabs Adcox's hand while hanging on to the remains of the catwalk. Stephen refuses Adcox's advice to let go of him and loses his grip on the catwalk. Stephen lands on the lower catwalk, but Adcox dies when he falls into the fire. Brian bravely battles the fire, allowing two firefighters to reach Stephen and carry him to safety. Stephen dies with Brian by his side on the way to the hospital, with his final request being that Brian not reveal Adcox to be the perpetrator.

After the funeral for Stephen and Adcox, Brian and Rimgale, with the help of the police, interrupt Swayzak at a press conference. Rimgale questions Swayzak on a fake manpower study that led to the deaths of several firemen, including Stephen and Adcox. They also state that Swayzak engineered the downsizing of the Chicago Fire Department, destroying Swayzak's mayoral ambitions.

Filming in Chicago began on July 23, 1990 and wrapped on December 8. Rubber cement from Petronio Shoe Products was used to create some of the fire effects. Industrial Light & Magic created many of the visual effects.[5]

The pictures of firefighters searching in movies like Backdraft do not show what it is like to search in a fire. Firefighters are shown advancing through fully involved structure fires while not wearing the complete complement of protective gear (Nomex hoods, radios, PASS devices). Most scenes display firefighting without the use of SCBA [self-contained breathing apparatus]. Realism in our case would make a very bad movie because the fact is that in almost every fire the smoke conditions completely obscure all vision.[7]

"The movie...came pretty close at times, but it also suffered from the very same, all too common shortcomings that any visual presentation was bound to encounter (...) Smoke, steam, and other miscellaneous factors usually combine to obscure almost everything that is taking place".[8]

The film has been released in many formats, first on VHS, then DVD. In 2006, a two-disc DVD Anniversary Edition was issued.[11]On January 4, 2011 Universal Pictures released a Blu-ray 'Anniversary Edition' with many of the features ported from the previous DVD release, including four featurettes, 43 minutes of deleted scenes, a three-minute Ron Howard introduction, and trailers.[12] It was released for the first time as a two-disc Ultra HD Blu-ray package on May 4, 2019.[13]

Backdraft was praised for its special effects and performances, while much criticism was reserved for the story.[15][16][17][18] It holds a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The consensus reads, "It's not particularly deep, but Backdraft is a strong action movie with exceptional special effects."[19] Film critics Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune[20] and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film positive reviews.[21]

In March 2018, it was announced that Universal had tapped Spanish director Gonzalo Lpez-Gallego to direct the sequel with William Baldwin reprising his role.[24] The film, titled Backdraft 2, was released direct-to-video on May 14, 2019.[25]

A backdraft (North American English) or backdraught (British English)[1] is the abrupt burning of superheated gases in a fire caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a window or door to an enclosed space is opened or broken. Backdrafts are typically seen as a blast of smoke and/or flame out of an opening of a building. Backdrafts present a serious threat to firefighters. There is some debate concerning whether backdrafts should be considered a type of flashover.

When material is heated enough, it begins to break down into smaller compounds, including flammable or even explosive gas, typically hydrocarbons. This is called pyrolysis, and does not require oxygen. If oxygen is also provided, then the hydrocarbons can combust, starting a fire.

A backdraft can occur when a compartment fire has little or no ventilation. Due to this, little or no oxygen can flow into the compartment. Then, because fires reduce oxygen, the oxygen concentration decreases. When the oxygen concentration becomes too low to support combustion, some or all of the combustion switches to pyrolysis. However, the hydrocarbons and smoke (primarily particulate matter) remain at a temperature hot enough to auto-ignite. If oxygen is then re-introduced to the compartment, e.g. by opening a door or window to a closed room, while the gasses are still hot enough to auto-ignite, combustion will restart, often abruptly or even explosively, as the gasses are heated by the combustion and expand rapidly because of the rapidly increasing temperature, combined with the energy released from combustion.

The colour and movement of smoke is used by firefighters to infer fire conditions, including the risk of backdraft.[2] Characteristic warning signs of a backdraft include yellow or brown smoke, smoke which exits small holes in puffs (a sort of breathing effect) and is often found around the edges of doors and windows, and windows which appear brown or black when viewed from the exterior due to soot from incomplete combustion. This is an indication that the room lacks enough oxygen to permit oxidation of the soot particles. Firefighters often look to see if there is soot on the inside of windows and in any cracks in the window (caused e.g. by the heat). The windows may also have a slight vibration due to varying pressure within the compartment due to intermittent combustion.

If firefighters discover a room sucking air into itself, for example through a crack, they generally evacuate immediately, because this is a strong indication that a backdraft is imminent. Due to pressure differences, puffs of smoke are sometimes drawn back into the enclosed space from which they emanated, which is how the term backdraft originated.

Backdrafts are very dangerous,[3] often surprising even experienced firefighters. The most common tactic used by firefighters to defuse a potential backdraft is to ventilate a room from its highest point, allowing the heat and smoke to escape without igniting.

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