Fire With Fire review

1st Mar 2013

Predictable, but sort of fun, this formulaic action-thriller should just about entertain you as long as you’re not expecting anything from it. It’s also important that you don’t watch the trailer, it’s an abridged version of the film; if only I’d stuck to watching that.

Fire by Fire stars Josh Duhamel as Jeremy, a young firefighter who witnesses the savage murder of a teenager and his father. Neo-nazi David Hagen, played by Vincent D’Onofrio, is arrested, but reveals that he knows Jeremy’s identity and will kill him if he testifies. Jeremy is placed on witness protection, but when Hagen continues to come after him, Jeremy decides to take the law into his own hands.

Even by action movie standards, it’s pretty dumb and there are several glaring plot errors. Watch out for a scene where Jeremy had the police file on David Hagen without any explanation of how he got it. It’s also ridiculously easy for Jeremy to find and break into the bad guys lairs’, find Hagen alone, beat up guys that are significantly bigger than him; the list is endless. The problem with all this is that it completely jars the pacing of them film and you’re never immersed or convinced by the story.

There’s also no clear character development. His relationship with Rosario Dawson’s character is all off-screen, so why he’d turn into a murderer for her isn’t convincing at all. What she sees in him is beyond me. Also for someone without any previous moidering experience he builds up an impressive tally pretty quickly and he’s also up for a spot of torture here and there.

Bruce Willis isn’t on screen for more than fifteen minutes, which is such a shame because he really is the only reason I went to watch the film. Vincent D’Onofrio gives a stellar performance, but with Josh Duhamel being so weak, it comes off as a little comic. All in all it just felt very lazy, plus Vinnie Jones is in it which is always a really, really bad sign.

There’s also never any tension in the film because everything is so easy for Jeremy, when he’s quite clearly out of his depth. This is a huge issue for an action film, because that should be the main driver of the plot. I should be on the edge of my seat, not firmly settled back into it, dozing off from time to time and being jolted by an explosion or twenty. If it wasn’t for Willis and D’Onofrio, I’d give this a 1/5, but that plus the fact that I’m a pyromaniac at heart, edged it up to two.