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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 48465
Released: July 16, 2002 |
| Our Price: $2.36 |
| Used Price: $0.14 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A routine investigation into a hotel fire quickly becomes a race to find a deadly arsonist as killer blazes begin raging all over the city. Police soon discover that someone is creating deliberate death traps - perfect infernos for a serial arsonist turned serial killer!
Ablaze Reviews:
This Movie Might be Funny if You are Drunk 
2009-11-10 - This is a so-so movie if you like watching fires and mayhem. But, the official synopsis of the movie has nothing to do with the movie! I understand if they had a low budget and hired green producers and directors, but what's the deal with the wording on the back? It says, quote: " A DEADLY ARSONIST HOLDS A CITY HOSTAGE. A routine investigation into a hotel fire becomes a grisly discovery when evidence uncovered among the ash suggest the fire was planned. As more deliberately set blazes sweep across the city,local firefighters scramble to save as many lives as they can.But the body count is rising and soon it becomes clear that these fires are deliberate death traps-perfect infernos perfect infernos created by a Serial Arsonist turned Serial Killer. "
Did they pay someone who was not even involved in making the movie and knew nothing about it, maybe one freaking dollar to write that? Whomever it was, he or she must have watched the first few minutes of it, seen an arsonist was sought by detectives, then fast forwarded it to see lots o' fire; then wrote the now infamous words. Just as confusing is the fact that no one seems to have checked on it for final editing or approval. So the movie was released with a review that had nothing to do with the movie. Impressive!
As for what the movie was really about, well- who cares? Doesn't this alone give you a clue as to the rest of it? I bought it for a dollar, and feel like I wasted my money. Next time I am drinking I plan to try watching it again--as a comedy.
Burn This Movie !
2009-05-17 - "Ablaze" is perhaps the most absurd "Fire Department" movie I have ever seen...Worse,the packaging description of the plotline has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the plot of the actual film...
According to the synopsis on the DVD case a hotel fire yeilds evidence of arson,other similiar fires occr pointing to a"serial arsonist turned serial killer"
HUH ?
The film opens with a car chase in which,after a lot of auto carnage,a bomber who has explosives attached to himself is shot and killed...Cut to the oil refinery where the(giggle) evil and corrupt bad guy Tom Arnold(Roseanne Barr's ex-husband)who seems as dangerous in this film as a serial jaywalker,is trying to bribe the fire inspector who,as happenstance would have it,is the brother of the hunky hero fire captain who has been injured in a fire and,as happenstance would have it,is taken to a hospital owned by the same Tom Arnold bad guy where,as happenstance would have it,the fire captain's old flame is a doctor..The oil refinery blows up because two dummies are welding a tank where gasoline is leaking like a ruptured artery into the sewer system,sending the fire inspector,injured,to the same hospital where his brother the hunky fire captain has been brought..The Tom Arnold bad guy goes there too(why?You got me on that one),the city catches on fire,a lot of third rate hollywood squares calibre actors and actresses emote furiously while the viewer is shown a lot of stock footage of burning buildings and exploding cars...The mayor(Edward Albert) is on bad guy Tom Arnold's payroll,as is the head doctor,but don't worry..the doctor and Tommy boy get burned up in the fire while the mayor is exposed as a crook...About half of the cast dies in the fire,but we are hardly aware of thier passing,as charecter development was not a priority in this film..In the end the hunky fire captain and his old flame rekindle thier fire,and everyone who wasn't burned to death lives happily ever after...
No "serial arsonist turned serial killer"...no"hotel fire"(unless you include the hotels that burn down with the rest of the city during the on-the-cheap "firestorm" climax)...Who put up the money for this film anyway,and why?
ablaze 
2009-03-04 - I concur with some of the opinions already mentioned. The cast was the redeeming factor. The Car Chase, in the opening scene, was directly from a Bruce Willis film, Striking Distance. Overall, for the viewer that enjoys a suspense filled film, with multiple plots, I recommend the film.
rip off from " striking distance"
2005-07-30 - i didn't bother even to finish the film when i relized that the first ten munites of the movie's footage was taken from the movie " striking distance" (1993) starring bruce willis and sarah jessica parker, i mean the actual car chase footage in the city was taken from willis's movie and used in this lame movie!!!
i think that copyrights are in order for the original and should take some legal action against the director and producers.........
JUST WHAT WE NEED, ANOTHER DISASTER MOVIE 
2004-09-10 - A MASSIVE FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH A CITY AND IT'S UP TO THE LOCAL FIREMEN TO SAVE AS MANY LIVES AS POSSIBLE. UPON LOOKING AT THE COVER FOR THIS FILM, ''BACKDRAFT'' IS PROBABLY THE FIRST MOVIE THAT'LL POP INTO YOUR MIND. WHILE THE MOVIE IS REALLY NOT A BACKDRAFT CLONE, IT'S JUST YOUR AVERAGE DISASTER MOVIE. LAZY WRITING, AMATEURISH ACTING, AND AN ALL TOO FAMILIAR PLOT KEEPS THIS MOVIE FROM BEING GOOD. YOU'LL MOST LIKELY ONLY RECOGNIZE THREE OF THE CAST MEMBERS, WHICH ARE; ICE-T [NEW JACK CITY], MICHAEL DUDIKOFF [THE AMERICAN NINJA MOVIES], AND TOM ARNOLD [TV'S ROSEANNE]. OH, AND IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN RENTING OR BUYING THIS MOVIE BECAUSE ICE-T'S NAME IS ON THE COVER, THEN YOU REALLY MIGHT WANNA THINK TWICE ABOUT GETTING THIS. ICE ONLY HAS 2 SCENES IN THIS WHOLE MOVIE! EVEN TOM ARNOLD'S ROLE ISN'T THAT BIG! IF YOU'RE SERIOUSLY INTO DISASTER FILMS, GIVE THIS A TRY. BUT IF YOU DON'T LIKE DISASTER FILMS, SKIP THIS MOVIE. IF YOU DECIDE TO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE, YOU'RE NOT MISSING OUT ON MUCH OF ANYTHING.
