in what might already be one of the " hottest " films of the summer , backdraft does for firefighters what goodfellas did for gangsters -- it elevates its protagonists to a level bordering on the heroic . only in this case , the firefighters in ron howard's latest film are truly deserving of that praise . viewers expecting a turgid retread of the towering inferno will be in for a surprise ( unless their idea of a good time is watching fred astaire spontaneously combust ) . for the effects in backdraft are indeed special , visual pyrotechnics that would make even george lucas' head spin . but backdraft is less an irwin allen-style disaster film than it is a human drama consumed by fire , a film about the motivations of men that risk their lives to save others . audience members are likely to feel more sensitive about firefighters after seeing this film . for philadelphians at least , this film comes hot on the heels of the center city fire that claimed the lives of three firefighters , making this film all the more poignant . twenty years after witnessing the death of his firefighter father in a rooftop blaze , brian mccaffrey ( william baldwin ) returns home to the firefighting business after a series of dead-end jobs have left him feeling empty and alienated . his brother stephen ( played by kurt russell in a powerful and sweaty performance ) has followed directly in his father's footsteps and is now a lieutenant in the chicago fire department . on more than one occasion in this film is stephen mccaffrey referred to as " the best . " the sibling rivalry between these two brothers is played out against a backdrop of danger , destruction and death . as one of the film's characters observes , it's the firemen who run into the burning building while everyone else is running out ! and stephen himself tells his younger brother , who admits to having a bad day on the job , " you have a bad day , and someone dies . " stephen believes that brian cannot cut it as a firefighter yet brian sets out to prove him wrong . however , stephen's suspicions turn out to be correct , and brian ends up taking a job with the city's top arson investigator , donald rimgale ( robert de niro ) . rimgale's world is one of smoke-eaters ( firemen ) , crispers ( fire victims ) and torches ( arsonists ) . their investigations into who is setting these fires and causing these " backdrafts " ( explosions triggered when air enters an oxygen-free room ) lead them to ronald bartel ( donald sutherland ) . in a scene straight out of the silence of the lambs . sutherland , white haired and rolling his eyes a lot , has never been more maniacal on screen . away from his work , stephen constantly battles with his estranged wife helen , played by rebecca demornay ( risky business ) in a quiet , understated performance . not that he is away from his work for long . russell's character seems to prefer putting out fires at the office rather than those at home . but neither of these two sub-plots are as arresting as the actual scenes of fire itself , which range in intensity from spectacular to downright amazing . director howard -- whose previous film was the 1989 domestic comedy/drama parenthood -- admits that to make a film about firefighters with the sophistication of today's audiences would require effects over and above the norm . and to his credit he has accomplished that . no gas jets under the camera lens here . howard's film personifies fire as a physical entity , a force that the firefighters must first stalk , and then kill , like a wild animal . as robert de niro's character says , " it's a living thing . it lives . it breathes . it hates . the only way to beat it is to think like it . the only way to kill it is to love it a little . " backdraft is a first rate action yarn - dirty , loud and full of explosive special effects . it is also a well crafted personal drama , replete with uniformly fine performances . but perhaps it's greatest triumph is that it bestows a renewed respect on a profession all too often taken for granted . 
