Fire with Fire (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Trailer-x 2 but not for this film
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	93:04 (Case: 97)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (52:41)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Barrett
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Josh Duhamel Bruce Willis Rosario Dawson Vincent D'Onofrio 50 Cent Julian McMahon
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Trevor Morris

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Jeremy Coleman (Josh Duhamel) is a dedicated fire fighter in Long Beach, California. On the way home one morning he visits a convenience store and stumbles into an execution committed by crime boss and Aryan Brotherhood member David Hagan (Vincent D’Onofrio). Coleman escapes and is able to identify Hagan to Police Lieutenant Mike Cella (Bruce Willis). Coleman agrees to testify against Hagan and is placed into the witness protection program, given another identify and relocated to another state until Hagan’s trial. While in the witness protection program he meets and falls in love with US Marshall Talia Durham (Rosario Dawson); but Hagan finds where Jeremy is and orders a hit which wounds Talia. Hagan contacts Jeremy and warns him that even if he testifies and Hagan is sent to gaol, Hagan will still be able to order the deaths of everyone Jeremy cares about, including Talia and her family. Jeremy believes that no one he loves will be safe while Hagan lives, so he escapes the witness protection program and heads back to Long Beach to kill Hagan.

     The Australian Blu-ray release of Fire with Fire has already been reviewed by GarryA on this site; you can check it out here. I pretty much agree with Garry that the film is an efficient crime thriller that is better than most. Fire with Fire is slickly made and the action scenes are well handled by director David Barrett, who had previously been involved in the stunt work on movies such as The Town (2010). Unlike some others I actually don’t mind Josh Duhamel in this role and think he does a good job. Although Bruce Willis is certainly cruising, Vincent D’Onofrio is an excellent psychotic villain, and well worth watching. More disturbing for me is the simplistic morality of the script; it seems it is OK to buy a gun, torture, maim and kill in cold blood if your intention is to protect those you love. Is that the American dream according to Hollywood? It seems so.

     The idea of an everyman taking on a crime gang is not new, if scarcely credible, but the lengths to which the everyman goes, including torture and killing in cold blood, is doubtful morality at best. However, viewed as an action thriller Fire with Fire is well made and moves along quickly during its running time.

Video

     Fire with Fire is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, the original ratio being 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print is sharp and finely detailed. Shot with the Red One digital camera, colours are flat and muted but look fine. Blacks and shadow detail are good, brightness, contract and skin tones sometimes seem a little pale.

     The print shows a fair bit of blurring with motion and obvious aliasing on surfaces such as the cups 3:12 or building 66:08. There are no obvious dirt marks.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available.

     The layer change at 52:41 occurred at a scene change and resulted in a slight pause.

     A reasonable looking print.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track at 448 Kbps. Also available is English descriptive audio for the vision impaired in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps.

     Dialogue is mostly clear although there are instances when Josh Duhamel especially was hard to hear. The surrounds were constantly in action, as might be expected from a modern action film, with music, gunshots, weather such as rain and fire effects. The sub-woofer added some bass but I must admit I was expecting a more dynamic presence, especially in the climactic fire scene when it sounded somewhat staid.

     The original music by Trevor Morris was effective without being memorable. It was augmented by a number of popular songs.

     Lip synchronisation is fine.

     The audio track did what was required, but the bass was a bit disappointing.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     On start-up there were trailers for Lawless and End of Watch that collectively run 4:35. There are no other extras.

     The Region 1 US release of Fire with Fire comes with two audio commentaries, one by director David Barrett and cinematographer David Probst, the second an actor’s commentary with Vincent D’Onofrio, Eric Winter and James Lesure, a short behind the scenes featurette (9 min), extensive interviews with cast and crew and the theatrical trailer. There does not appear to be a Region 2 UK release at the moment. A clear win to Region 1.

     Viewed as an action thriller Fire with Fire is well made. However, there is no consideration of the rights and wrongs of killing and the lengths to which the hero goes, including torture and killing in cold blood, is disturbing.

     The video and audio are acceptable, without being anything special. There are no relevant extras, and we miss out on all the extras, including the commentaries, available in the US.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall