rip off from " striking distance"
i didn't bother even to finish the film when i relized that the first ten munites of the movie's footage was taken from the movie " striking distance" (1993) starring bruce willis and sarah jessica parker, i mean the actual car chase footage in the city was taken from willis's movie and used in this lame movie!!!

i think that copyrights are in order for the original and should take some legal action against the director and producers.........

JUST WHAT WE NEED, ANOTHER DISASTER MOVIE
A MASSIVE FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH A CITY AND IT'S UP TO THE LOCAL FIREMEN TO SAVE AS MANY LIVES AS POSSIBLE. UPON LOOKING AT THE COVER FOR THIS FILM, ''BACKDRAFT'' IS PROBABLY THE FIRST MOVIE THAT'LL POP INTO YOUR MIND. WHILE THE MOVIE IS REALLY NOT A BACKDRAFT CLONE, IT'S JUST YOUR AVERAGE DISASTER MOVIE. LAZY WRITING, AMATEURISH ACTING, AND AN ALL TOO FAMILIAR PLOT KEEPS THIS MOVIE FROM BEING GOOD. YOU'LL MOST LIKELY ONLY RECOGNIZE THREE OF THE CAST MEMBERS, WHICH ARE; ICE-T [NEW JACK CITY], MICHAEL DUDIKOFF [THE AMERICAN NINJA MOVIES], AND TOM ARNOLD [TV'S ROSEANNE]. OH, AND IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN RENTING OR BUYING THIS MOVIE BECAUSE ICE-T'S NAME IS ON THE COVER, THEN YOU REALLY MIGHT WANNA THINK TWICE ABOUT GETTING THIS. ICE ONLY HAS 2 SCENES IN THIS WHOLE MOVIE! EVEN TOM ARNOLD'S ROLE ISN'T THAT BIG! IF YOU'RE SERIOUSLY INTO DISASTER FILMS, GIVE THIS A TRY. BUT IF YOU DON'T LIKE DISASTER FILMS, SKIP THIS MOVIE. IF YOU DECIDE TO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE, YOU'RE NOT MISSING OUT ON MUCH OF ANYTHING.

A B-Budget version of "Backdraft" & "City On Fire."
"Ablaze" was actually a pretty decent film! I mean, sure it had its plot holes, its mistakes, and its obviously stolen stock footage, but, for a disaster and/or hospital chaos (a la "E.R."), this film will (for the most part) keep you on the edge of your seet (somewhat). As with most, if not all of Jay Andrew's (AKA Jim Wynorski) B-films, the description on the back of the case has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the film at hand, and i do mean nothing! It seems to describe Ron Howard's "Backdraft" in the description, even though i actually liked this film nore than Howard's much nore famous catalyst, if you will, for this type of movie (also having its plot ripped off for the Hong King film, "Lifeline" which is available here at Amazon).

The film itself begins with a really pointless car chase of a mad bomber(?) who ends up being shot by one of the main characters (the captain of a fire department) who is on a stakeout with Jay Andrew's good B-Movie friend, Ice-T, whom, for some odd reason always seems to pop up in one of Andrew's films, why? I havn't a clue. Anyway, the bad guy catches fire (he does not spontaneously combust like some believe, the poeple that catch fire actually do have reasons why) and he burns to death in a park.

Then we go into learning about the characters, like Tom Arnold, who plays the greedy oil/gas refinery owner who is illegaly dumping(?) gasoline into the sewer system of what appears to be Los Angeles (though we actually never do know the city's true name, but the opening shot is one of downtown LA). Arnold's character has also built a hospital at the end of a cultasac and it is understaffed, under budgeted, and run by a truely evil woman, but one doctor is determined to do what's to help a low-income woman have her baby, and later on save the lives of everyone in the hospital. The fire captain has a brother whom he dislikes (for a certain reason) and the brother is an undercover agent seeking to find out the truth behind Wendel Mays' (Arnold's character) bribery and corruption.

Mays' refinery then dumps a large load of gasoline into the sewer system of the city and then the refinery catches fire from a welder's torch and catches everything on fire. The Mays Hospital is the only one near to take burn victims but gets cut off by a firestorm that theatens to blow up the whole city block (which looks like a street in New York City). The same traffic shots w/ fire in the far off distance is used over and over to show that the city is, well...ablaze! As well as a cheap special fx shot of a skyscraper exploding due to the whole sewer system catching fire. So now the city is in "flames" and the hospital must evactuate everyone down a burning street, where many meet their ends.

This film is pretty merciless in killing off its characters (just like in the great 1970's Irwin Allen films), even the nice Cathy Lee Crosby who is a kind and sweet television actress (combining the "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Genie" stars together, for this film) and she tries to make a run for it (whether to be the guinea pig to test it out, or because she just wants to save herself) and she catches fire and burns to death. Then falling debris kills some people and some stupid nurse opens a closet that has fire on the other side and the backdraft that unsues torches the poor girl, tisk, tisk, tisk, didn't she watch "The Towering Inferno" or "Backdraft"?

The movie was made with obvious stock footage from the 1970's, which I actually enjoy! Especially since "City On Fire" is an extremely hard to find film. "City On Fire" is a Leslie Neilson and Ava Gardner 1979 disaster film where a disgruntled oil refinery (or chemical plant) employee purposely catches the city on fire and a threatened hospital must evacuate its occupants, hey that sounds kinda familiar... Anyway, this film was pretty decent and much better than Andrew's previous fiascos like "Final Voyage" and... uh...you know that one with Ice-T in it.

FIRED UP
I have to admit, I must be a kind of sucker for these disaster type films. I have long admired firefighters for the great risks and macho savvy they always show in real life. This isn't real life, but hey this is a movie, and I don't care if it's not the way the real firefighters work. Director Jay Andrews brings nothing new to the venue, but I had fun watching all the pyrotechnics and seeing how our brave men respond, and the subsequent human interests. I think model turned actor John Bradley acquitted himself nicely, as did Amanda Pays and Larry Poindexter. Even Pat Harrington, Edward Albert and Tom Arnold did okay. William Zabka continues to reign as direct to video villain. Cathy Lee Crosby's character was totally off the wall, I never really understood why she was even in it?? Anyway, I enjoyed it, and that's what movies are to me. Enjoyment in a fantasy world.

Horrible action thriller - great accidental comedy
Ablaze was amazing. More errors per minute than any film I've ever seen. The box tells you that the movie is about an arsonist trying to set the city on fire. It's a great setup, as the arsonist dies in the first few minutes of the flick. The movie begins with a cop and fireman on a stakeout to catch an arsonist. The fireman begs for a gun, but the cop can't let him have one. The two of them boldly face the arsonist, but can't shoot him because he's standing in an open area, loaded with explosives. He detonates a small charge, and escapes. Now, knowing that they couldn't shoot him, they make the next logical move . . . they race to their car to pursue him at high speed. The energy is sky high as the cop (Ice-T) turns to the fireman to say, "I am not authorized to allow you to drive this vehicle" or something like that. What seem like hundreds of police cars enter the chase, and ultimately surround the arsonist. Hundreds of police guns trained on him, with his fate certain, the same cop casually tosses a gun to the fireman to add to the count. Ludicrous! Now, standing on a city street surrounded by urban sprawl, they can finally shoot him! Crazy! In another fire, a kid is deadbolted into his modern home. Of course, the mom leaves matches next to the burner on the modern gas stove. Well, she steps out the door and the kid does what we all did as children . . . lights a paper airplane on fire and throws it into the draperies. Our lethal fireman shows up to save the day, and enters the mysteriously unlocked home to rescue the kid. Sadly, our hero suffers smoke inhalation. More unrelated fires are set, and handled (without any radios, hoses, breathing apparatus, or even water) until the city finally ignites from (are you ready for this?) men welding in a sewer system where gasoline is being drained. (You know . . . a lot of companies are polluting our environment by flooding the sewers with $2/gallon gas!) The city's fire chief, apparently standing at the electric company's office, takes charge immediately of the city's plight, as it is totally engulfed in flame. He promptly calls the fire station that rescued the kid to tell them that, without their genius captain who suffered smoke inhalation because he never wore his SCBA, they can't be counted upon to fight the fire, and must stand down. Every unit in the city is needed, and he calls ONE unit alone to tell them NOT to respond! Now, if you think that sounds ridiculous, then you have LOTS to look forward to. That was the LOGICAL part of the story line! This thing is so flawed that it's hysterical. I'd recommend it to anyone. In my book, this is the best surprise comedy (and worst action thriller) of all time!