Heaven's Fire (1999)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I saw this film last night on TV at a hotel in Daejeon, South Korea. It really did make me think, okay, one part "Towering Inferno", one part "Poseidon Adventure". But now that I see this film was made in 1999, can't help but wonder if it might've been watched by Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden and been an inspiration for them, especially the helicopter crash sequence. Also, it gets SO irritating to see that a movie is set in an American city that I've lived in (Seattle) but then absolutely nothing looks familiar and sure enough, it turns out to be filmed in Vancouver BC which stunt-doubles for so many places in America. Film in America, please! But all in all, a good suspense piece.

I saw Eric Roberts was in it and figured it could be pretty good. It is very amateurish. Acting and pacing is poor. Photography is good, but framing is poor. I swear I also saw some trailers that looked exciting, so maybe I missed something, but I doubt it.

Although this is set in a skyscraper which is on fire, rather than a ship that's sinking beneath the water, lots of the stock characters seemed to have been filched from The Poseidon Adventure. Prochnow's villain has the strongest character definition, or seems to have, perhaps because he's acting better than the rest of the cast. Eric Roberts 'tries hard' as they might say in a school report, but it's a pretty thankless role, and his son and girlfriend are dreadful. The flames and a crashing plane scene are so bad they're hilarious. At one stage I expected Leslie Nielsen to appear saying 'And stop calling me Shirley'. There is a slight twist to the story, but not enough to redeem it. Really the best way to enjoy it is as a spoof, but as that's not what the director intended then it has to be written off as a pretty bad film. Good for Prochnow fans, okay for Eric Roberts fans, waste of time for anyone else. Incidentally, Prochnow's girlfriend was way too young for him; nice for him, but annoying to watch. Why not give men girlfriends within fifteen years of their age for a change?

I wish I could of liked this movie but I did not! Thank god it s on t.v. This movie never would of made it in the theater. Eric is great in it, but the acting really did not put up to par! It's on Lifetime T.V. If you like Eric Roberts See it, if not don't bother!