Very well executed

Am I Missing Something?

A Disappointing Continuation

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Well, best thing about the film was the contra dance band at the end, the Hillillies from Mars, of which I am a member. Actors were competent I thought, though working with very poor material. I will say that lunch was pretty good. Though the extras didn't get the same grub as the stars. My buddy Ray, unfamiliar with the movie class system, managed to wander through the first class lunch line and get actual meat instead of the spaghetti we lowly serfs were served. Cast and crew seemed like nice folks. Strange business this second line Hollywood stuff. I think the director must have gotten tired when editing, and the writer gave up after awhile as well. Wonder what it would have been like had everyone mimed their parts?

Ever seen a movie so bad that it felt like you were watching a porn movie without the x-rated scenes? If not, see Inferno and you'll know what I mean. The acting is the best part of the movie, and even then it is mediocre at best. But whether this is solely due to the actors themselves or the forced and unnatural dialog in the script is uncertain. The script is completely void of any subtleties, nuances or psychology. Combine this with ineffectual editing, disinterested direction and an amazingly predictable storyline ("he wasn't just some guy, he was your father!") and the result is an insultingly poor waste of time. The camera direction is average. The special effects weren't even half bad, considering that the budget was obviously limited. All in all though, this is a decidedly below-average disaster b-movie.

Well it was just about watchable but that is where the positive points grind to halt, probably just like the career of pretty much everyone associated with this mess.Plot holes the size of Nebraska, dodgy acting, even more dodgy fire fighting and wall to wall recycled stock footage of forest fires interspersed with some terrible special effects are the main features of a film with a plot so blinding obvious you could see what was going to happen a mile off.Large slices of the plot have been lifted almost word for word from Jaws, the defiant kid who gets into trouble, the Mayor who refuses to close the road because of the tourist peak, and even more amazingly one character then goes and admits this! Anyway, the fire gets out of control thanks to their local friendly loony with the fireworks (who anyone with half a brain will identify in about a millisecond after he appears) and then its all solved as if by magic by blowing up the dam - this being achieved with the lamest explosions in the history of demolishing things.The whole film leaves a lot of unanswered questions - What happened to the fire tankers? Where did that convenient abandoned mine appear from and then just as promptly disappear to? Who put that idiot woman in charge? Did we really need the pointless closing scene at the dance with the flashbacks? What was with the random pointless slow motion shots? What on earth was Dean Stockwell (as the Mayor) doing in this rubbish? If you like a laugh at cheap poorly researched B Movie style disaster flicks (and there seem to be an awful lot of them floating around) then go and find this on DVD - my local supermarket is flogging this travesty for just 97p - and I expect many will still think they have been robbed!!

I often watch movies which are poorly rated and severely criticized, and feel many viewers were missing some significant points; satire, fantasy, surrealism, etc., which reviewers mistake as serious elements of the film. Inferno was roundly criticized for a large number of faults, with which I find myself in complete agreement. And I could add a number of others. I'm interested in forest fires, which is why I went ahead and rented it. In another incarnation I was foreman of a U.S. Forest Service tank truck and fire crew. In fact I grew up in the USFS and around fires. From the technical aspect of the film it is utter, complete and unmitigated B.S. I think Janet Gunn reached her professional peak as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and is sliding down from there. I hope the rest of the cast and crew have other day jobs. This one really, really stinks, and is totally without redeeming merit.