Backdraft
November 2006 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: HD DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

In this popular film, two brothers (Kurt Russell and William Baldwin) are members of the Baltimore Fire Department. They not only battle fires but also fight each other in a constant game of who’s better and nobler and who upholds the memory of their father best. Meanwhile, investigators are trying to solve a series of arsons, all caused by deliberately planned backdrafts. These backdrafts would kill anyone opening a door to the building where they were planted. It is really a B movie given A status by the use of dazzling special effects. Though not much more than a soap opera, it does pay tribute to firefighters in general, and there is nothing at all wrong with that!

There have been several DVD editions of the movie. This HD DVD has been released at the same time as a new SD edition. It is a one-sided dual-layer disc that contains the movie in HD and all the SD extras, still in SD.

The picture is outstanding. This is one of the best-looking HD DVDs yet! It has been made from excellent source materials that are free of dirt, tears, pinholes, or other faults. The opening scene is a flashback, showing the two brothers in a dark part of the fire station. They place a flashlight over a row of helmets, producing many flickering shadows. These are handled so well by the HD transfer that there is never a doubt what one is seeing. The bell rings, the firemen slide down the traditional pole, there’s a heroic music cue, and we are thrust into the sunlight, where we’re offered realistic scenes of Baltimore streets in every fine detail. I have never seen brick buildings with so much definition and looking so three-dimensional in the same moment. There is a huge explosion as a fire claims the life of the boys’ father. Then we are thrust 20 years into the future where the activities at a nighttime fire look clear as can be, although they are often seen through a scrim of smoke. The color for all scenes is natural and rich, as it would be in real life. There’s no use of funky, distracting filters.

And so it goes throughout the film -- one astonishing and satisfactory scene after another. I have to mention the fire, which is played as a major character in the movie. It looks just right, the color is perfect, and one of the extras shows us how difficult that look was to achieve. Even 15 years later, the firefighting scenes in this movie are as exciting as anything being made today, perhaps more so, since they do not (over)use CGI

The sound matches the picture. The bombastic Hans Zimmer score sounds grand, with pulsing bass and soaring horns. Dialogue is clear and all the sound effects have good location and presence. The sound of the fire is unique and downright scary. Though I know that Dolby TrueHD might have been a little better, Dolby Digital Plus is coded faster than regular Dolby and really sounds terrific on this release.

All the SD extras have been carried over to the HD DVD, and since it is dual layer, everything is on one side without any loss of quality. If you are looking for a demonstration HD DVD movie to blow yourself away, almost literally, and push the picture to the max, you stop right here.

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