Review: Fire. It’s got the power of life, destruction, and now… entertainment! Following in the footsteps of such fire blockbusters as Ron Howard’s “Backdraft”, Libera Me does an excellent job of creating a captivating movie-watching experience. Right from the beginning where you see a pipe releasing steam and sucking it back in all to having it explode in some guy’s face, this movie grabs you and just doesn’t let you go. From that moment on, this movie is nearly constant action with the occasional dramatic segments. At times, during the firefighting scenes, I would just say “Wow.” Imagine a spiral of fire spinning out of control, or seeing the firefighters break open a door only to see a sea of fire beyond them. Or imagine the shock of seeing a guy get blown away by a blast leaving an imprint of his face on the opposite side of the door. I must say that I was totally engrossed in what I was seeing.

Not only does the movie have wonderful eye candy, it even delves into the villain’s character as well. This guy was pure evil, but you actually get to see why he turned out like that. It’s no surprise that he ended up being such a bastard pyromaniac that he is. The thing is, this guy has this really “nice guy” side to him that takes care of kids and is like a mentor to them. It’s such a trip to see this guy go all psycho and later on burning the hell out of buildings and people. Such a crazy moment is when he sets these other kids that beat him up on fire, locks them in the room, and just starts smiling and giggling on the other side of the door. But that’s not what sets him off to the dark path of a twisted arsonist. Oh no! You’ll just have to see it for yourselves. It’s quite disturbing. But let’s just say, I am terrified of meat hooks now. Anyhow, that’s what makes him into this self-proclaimed “savior” to the kids.

That’s not to say that character development of the rest of the cast is overlooked. Because each character does get his/her moment to shine and showcase what drives them. Of course there are some that get it more than others, but that’s fine since those few are minor characters that don’t really push the movie forward. It’s the characters of Sang-Woo (lead firefighter), Hyeon-Tae (Sang-Woo’s new partner), and Min-Seong (fire examiner) that make up the main cast. If it weren’t for the actors and actress who played these roles, I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much as I did, as they were very plausible in their roles and helped draw me into the movie’s setting.

A problem most of these types of movies have in common are the use of obvious CG. Libera Me uses real flames, and some of it is so outrageous you’d believe they were crafted with CG. But everything is real here, and so are the actors and actresses. Apparently they wanted to make this movie as believable as possible, which led them to do their own stunts and endure the raging flames without the use of stunt doubles.