REVIEW: Backdraft 2 (2019)

William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland cameo in this woeful sequel to Backdraft (1991).  Produced by Imagine Entertainment and Universal 1440, Backdraft 2 follows the story of Sean McCaffrey (Joe Anderson), son of legendary Chicago Fireman, Stephen ‘Bull’ McCaffrey (Kurt Russell).  Sean is an arson investigator with the Chicago Fire Department.  Cynical and jaded, Sean is rude and dismissive of his recently assigned female partner, Maggie Reming (Alisha Bailey).  When a group of kids treat or treating during Halloween are inadvertently killed in a house explosion, Sean is convinced it’s the work of a chillingly sophisticated new arsonist.

Backdraft 2 is an interminable slog of a movie.  The story is flat, boring and uninteresting, a cure for insomnia if nothing else.  There is nothing of interest to note.   Actor Joe Anderson has a mumbling, incoherent accent that makes it difficult to understand what he is saying half the time.  The rest of the cast is a bunch of D-List English actors with shoddy American accents.  When the highlight of your movie is a 1991 still photograph of Kurt Russell, you know your film is in trouble.

Director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego has done a disservice to Ron Howard’s original film.

Not recommended for digital rental.