Before the Fire (2020)
2020
92 Minutes
Deep in the throes of a global pandemic, up and coming TV star, Ava Boone, is forced to flee the mounting chaos in Los Angeles and return to her rural hometown. But as she struggles to acclimate t...
User Review
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The best I can give to “Before The Fire” to its credit is the simple fact of the matter that I was never bored of what I saw. For it what it failed to deliver most of the time, I was able to find little nuggets of entertainment here and there, most notably in its rather vague messages and ideas regarding violence, control and domestic abuse as well as the long shadow that it casts over whomever. I would say more about how it lives up to its promised plight of destruction in the final act and some merit in the photography and atmosphere presented but that’s about where i draw the line because for all the praise it’s been getting, there’s not much to this. There’s thrills but not a lot of investment.
Jenna Lyng Adams, who also stars as the best aspect of the film portraying the main character, tries to make something out of the fake pandemic in the movie but - as scriptwriter - she doesn't give herself enough room to maneuver let alone contribute it to the situations that surround and cloud the main character despite having LITERALLY all the character development. The reminder of the specific pandemic setting fades the more we focus on the predicaments regarding each unfleshed out character that the film wants you to fill in the blanks for (not that I mind). Performances aren't consistently strong enough to enliven the action that’s promised in the final act and the worldbuilding is rather strictly limited beside the possibilities that are just not taken advantage of. Yes, there are a few scenes here and there that take advantage of the film’s style that captures the pandemic angle to a substantial level of competence but this happens so infrequently that it’s almost borderline pointless.
I've seen a lot of slow films that worked in the past but that’s only if the project has enough material to build itself off of and work with. Scenes that are there for a reason, they have to establish something: characters, their relations, build up the atmosphere; anything to avoid filler and no waste time. That unfortunately is what this film does to the letter: waste my f’n time.0 member like this review.
