Ablaze Reviews

Far from of delivering three-alarm fire action, this smoke-filled disaster movie barely smolders. When fire captain Jack Thomas (John Bradley) isn't hunting for arsonists with police detective Al Denning (Ice T), he's shepherding his crew through assorted emergencies. Jack is on the outs with his brother, fire inspector Andrew Thomas (Larry Poindexter); Jack mistakenly assumes that Andrew failed to cite a hotel that subsequently burned down, killing Jack's wife, because he was on the take. Andrew plans to redeem himself in Jack's eyes by entrapping a corrupt CEO named Wendell Mays (Tom Arnold), who owns an oil refinery rife with code violations but has cultivated a reputations as a philanthropist by building a hospital. Before Andrew and whistle-blower Rick Woods (David Bowe) can spring their trap, a gas leak ignites the Mays Oil Works and burns Andrew, who's sent to the hospital Mays built. Jack is also recuperating in Mays' hospital, having been injured during a routine house fire. Unfortunately for both men, the hospital lies directly in the path of the inferno that started at the Oil Works. While Mays' right-hand man searches for the incriminating evidence Andrew squirreled away, Fire Chief Sam Davis (Michael Cavanaugh) squabbles with the Mayor (Edward Albert) over strategy. The Mayor is in cahoots with Mays, and both value damage control over public safety. After the medical staff launches a mutiny against Mays, Jack informs them they must evacuate the building and tries to contain a firestorm raging on the facility's perimeter. While Jack's loyal crew works around the hazard, Jack must try to lead the hospital's patients through an obstacle course of fireballs. Familiar stars go through the motions in a he-man adventure that's as exciting as a fire drill. Kudos to the stuntmen and special effects crew, but not to the uninspired director and ho-hum screenwriter.