Firefighters

Story: Jin-seop (Kwak Do-won) leads the team of a fire department unit, even though In-gi (Yoo Jae-myung) is actually his superior. But since the two have known each other for a long time and served together in the army, everything is a bit more relaxed in the unit. When rookie Cheol-woong (Joo Won) joins the unit, it becomes clear that the newcomer not only can't tell the firefighters' tools apart, but in his first mission he also shows clear signs that he won’t be able to handle the pressure. During the next operation in a burning building, Jin-seop does not follow the orders of his superior In-gi which leads to a fatal accident within the crew. Cheol-woong gets some time to deal with the trauma, but he is also determined to change something about the fact that the chain of command is not adhered to. In the meantime, he is studying for an exam in order to get in a higher position and do something about the shortcomings in the fire department team. Another life-threatening problem is that the team has completely inadequate equipment and politicians don’t want to do anything about it. Over time, however, working in the team shows the rookie the attitude his colleagues have towards the job, and he slowly has to reconsider whether his anger at Jin-seop is really justified. Jin-seop is also about to quit because his wife wants to open a restaurant and can't stand the fact that he could die in a fire at any time. But then he is called to a dangerous mission on his last day ...

Review: Korea is no stranger to disaster movies in which a fire is engulfing everything around it - see "The Tower". Nevertheless, it is astonishing how little action cinema from the peninsula actually revolves around this element of nature. Hong Kong has a lot more to offer in this respect, even though it is not always high quality stuff, most recently "Cesium Fallout". So, it might be a good idea to take a look at what the action drama with the rather unoriginal title "Firefighters" has to offer. First of all, it is obvious that the flick does not want to be a big spectacle at all, but instead wants to concentrate on the human beings behind the firefighters. With that, the movie seems to have the most important ingredient for a successful drama. Unfortunately, though, this is exactly where the flick’s biggest weakness reveals itself. Because despite some efforts to introduce us to a diverse range of characters, they are only sketched out in a rudimentary way, and they mostly get lost in the crowd simply because of the sheer number of individuals. It takes quite a while until we can tell the different men in the firefighting unit apart, and even later on it’s hard with most of them or only works towards the end. At the beginning, it is even difficult to say who exactly fell victim to the flames and why this is supposed to touch us.

It is generally quite difficult to sympathize with anyone. At least we figure out that Cheol-woong is supposed to be our lens through which we observe the men at work. But we simply feel no sympathy for the young man, as he not only acts completely incompetent and always ends up in a state of shock due to his fear, but he also pretends to have the moral high ground when it comes to his superiors, which just doesn’t make any sense since the firefighters all have years of experience. Of course, Cheol-woong eventually goes through a transformation, but until then he can hardly serve as a sympathetic figure. As a newcomer, Joo Won isn't allowed to have any extraordinary action scenes, which is a pity when you think of his leading role in "Carter". Jin-seop fits better as the pivotal element of the story. He is aware of the fact that he is anything but perfect, he loves his job but also knows that he will soon have to quit, if he doesn’t want his wife to go insane. It’s probably not that surprising that Jang Young-nam ("Confidential Assigment"), as the wife who wants to open a restaurant, plays the most colorful and sophisticated role. But it is peculiar that someone in a supporting role is able to outshine the main cast.

As mentioned before, though, Kwak Do-won ("The Golden Holiday") kind of works as the hero of the story, because he has his moments which the actor also knows how to make use of. After the movie had to wait for its release due to Covid, it was postponed again due to the lead actor who was caught driving under the influence. With something like that, time needs to pass in Korea so that things can calm down a bit, but that didn't really hurt the movie in terms of its topicality, since it takes place in the year 2001 anyway. Why this is the case and why we are told at the beginning that the movie is based on true events, even though nothing special happens for quite a while, is only resolved towards the end, and will not be spoiled here. Suffice it to say that we notice in "Firefighters" that the men carry incredibly bad, outdated, or broken equipment, and that the budget is rather spent on some official celebrations than on the safety of the people who actually save lives. On the positive side, though, and despite the flick’s weaknesses concerning character development, the individuals still seem human and there is no forced pathos here, which would certainly have been the case in a Chinese movie - see "The Bravest".

We actually only get to see fire at the beginning and during the finale. But then no effort was spared. Everything looks realistic, the special effects never make you feel like you are only seeing movie magic here, and the smoke specifically is well staged. In terms of color schemes, the 2000s are also captured nicely. Director Kwak Kyung-taek has been around for a long time and is known for movies like "Eye for an Eye". The problems with this flick can therefore be identified much more within the script. And it's the typical flaws that will make you roll your eyes. In a dicey situation, people just talk instead of doing something, even when someone is dangling dangerously from an abyss. The incident commander In-gi screams his lungs out on several occasions telling his team to come out of a blazing building, but he is constantly ignored by his men who simply want to save one more life. Generally, suspense is often created in a rather artificial way, which comes at the cost of credibility, and that's especially annoying because "Firefighters" actually wanted to work as a realistic drama.

On the other hand, the director put in the effort to graphically bring the immensely catastrophic working conditions of these men on screen. Sending firefighters into an inferno wearing simple cotton gloves only makes you shake your head. Another pleasant thing is that the movie tries to portray the men as people with their own dreams and wishes, but unfortunately that’s exactly what it fails to do. Furthermore, the movie seems a bit disoriented, especially in the middle, and switching between the characters takes away a real point of reference for the viewer. One of the reasons for this is that some of the lead actor’s scenes were cut from the movie because of the aforementioned little scandal. The fact that Jin-seop pointlessly disappears into the background because of this is an absurdity, especially since towards the end the movie wants to build up some suspense and drama based on him, which is now bound to fail. In the end, "Firefighters" is still a decent action drama at its core, and it even has something to say. Unfortunately, though, some inexplicable decisions reduce the quality of the story, and the people who are supposed to be in the foreground fade away. Accordingly, this flick sadly doesn't leave a lasting impression.

Buy this movie:

Follow @AsianMovieWeb