Fire (2020)

Director: Alexey Nuzhny

Starring: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Ivan Yankovskiy, Stasya Miloslavskaya

A heroic story about firefighters and rescuers. What some may call an act of bravery is an ordinary day for them.

2017 saw the release of ‘Only the Brave’. 2019 brought us ‘The Bravest’. And in 2020 we saw the release of ‘Fire’ (also known as ‘No Escapes’).

‘Fire’ takes its time setting up the characters, but this made us get to know them, and ultimately root for them. Much of the film’s long running time was made up of unnecessary humorist scenes, and the film only really gets direction and become serious around the 1-hour mark. Once there, it is a rollercoaster ride of suspense and excitement, filled with drama and emotion.

The film’s main protagonist is Andrey (Konstantin Khabenskiy), who leads a fire fighting team. After the death of one of his team members, he decides to include his daughter Katya (Stasya Miloslavskaya)’s new boyfriend, Roman (Ivan Yankovskiy) in his team. Roman is a bit of an arrogant deuce bag, to put it bluntly.

Of all the characters, I connected most to Lev (Viktor Dobronravov), who also had the best and most tragic back story. ‘Fire’ is a heroic tale of bravery against all odds. It is filled with action, suspense, and great visual effects (some of the fire scenes are actual footage).

‘Fire’ is a much better film than ‘Only the Brave’ (which, by the way, I didn’t enjoy at all), but ‘The Bravest’ still remains my favourite.

‘Fire’ nearly doubled its budget at the box office. It won awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and was nominated for Best Feature Film, and Best Actor.

In Russian.

Would I watch it again? Yes.