A band of criminals has planned an ambitious heist. Things start to go wrong when the leader of the group is recognized by one of his old colleagues. Fighting breaks out, one thing leads to another and before you can say "Whoosh !" a giant Federal building is on fire...
"Heaven's Fire" is not the best action-plus-disaster movie around. It's got rare flashes of wit and ingenuity, but for the most part it suffers from a lack of originality. "Stealing" and "plagiarism" are such ugly words ; let's just say that it was inspired, deeply inspired, by earlier movies such as the first "Die Hard" or "Towering Inferno". As a result the story feels like a random patchwork of influences, mixed with a great deal of explosions and stunts. Unsurprisingly, the dialogue is dull and pedestrian - these characters haven't got anything new or interesting to say.
Mind you, the stuntwork is very good indeed ; in another, better movie it could have become one of the assets of a classic...
The movie also shows a woeful lack of realism. This is, of course, true of many other action movies, but there the lack of realism can hide itself behind charismatic performances, quotable one-liners or a thumping good intrigue. No such luck here... As a result the problems become painfully, disturbingly obvious. For instance, the movie ends with a group of plucky people surviving not one, but two raging fires, which meet in a cataclysmic inferno. In real life, it is much more likely that these unfortunate victims would die a hideous death - from burning or boiling, from suffocation, from a giant fall down dozens of floors, from crushing beneath several hundred tonnes of débris, or any combination of these factors.
The movie raises other questions too, such as : what has happened to all the other people present in the building ? Surely a giant building such as that must house SOME visitors and employees, if only of the cleaning lady type ? And does this mean that we're looking at a howling, screaming catastrophe killing hundreds of innocent citizens ? Are we talking about a tragedy as terrible as the Brussels "Innovation" fire ?
So no, not recommended. Go and watch the originals...
"Heaven's Fire" is not the best action-plus-disaster movie around. It's got rare flashes of wit and ingenuity, but for the most part it suffers from a lack of originality. "Stealing" and "plagiarism" are such ugly words ; let's just say that it was inspired, deeply inspired, by earlier movies such as the first "Die Hard" or "Towering Inferno". As a result the story feels like a random patchwork of influences, mixed with a great deal of explosions and stunts. Unsurprisingly, the dialogue is dull and pedestrian - these characters haven't got anything new or interesting to say.
Mind you, the stuntwork is very good indeed ; in another, better movie it could have become one of the assets of a classic...
The movie also shows a woeful lack of realism. This is, of course, true of many other action movies, but there the lack of realism can hide itself behind charismatic performances, quotable one-liners or a thumping good intrigue. No such luck here... As a result the problems become painfully, disturbingly obvious. For instance, the movie ends with a group of plucky people surviving not one, but two raging fires, which meet in a cataclysmic inferno. In real life, it is much more likely that these unfortunate victims would die a hideous death - from burning or boiling, from suffocation, from a giant fall down dozens of floors, from crushing beneath several hundred tonnes of débris, or any combination of these factors.
The movie raises other questions too, such as : what has happened to all the other people present in the building ? Surely a giant building such as that must house SOME visitors and employees, if only of the cleaning lady type ? And does this mean that we're looking at a howling, screaming catastrophe killing hundreds of innocent citizens ? Are we talking about a tragedy as terrible as the Brussels "Innovation" fire ?
So no, not recommended. Go and watch the originals...