Reviews (94)

This, unfortunately, has to be my favorite movie
For all those people who are totally tearing the movie, you will probably grow up to be critics. It IS true that the movie will never be on any The Best of The Century's Movies list, but if you're looking for entertainment: Mario Bros. are your men. The movie is not made to be believable: two "brothers" get trapped in another dimension while trying to save Luigi's kind of girlfriend, who happens to be the princess of this strange world. The princess is trying to reverse the damage King Koopa did to her father (he turned him into a giant ball of fungus). In the end, the Mario Bros. save the day (did you expect a different ending?). Don't expect a recreation of the game; this movie is a far cry from any version of Super Mario. I have watched and rewatched this movie since I was little and I STILL have to say that it is my favorite. The plot line is a wee bit out there, yes; it's not like the game, that's true; all the aspiring critics out there will not get into it, unfortunately; but for all you normal people out there who don't care what the rest of the world thinks about reality and just want a nice, quiet night to yourself or with a loved one: check this out.

A completely misunderstood movie. Here's why it is good.
Most people tend to hate this film. I think, though, that they hate it because they're looking at it the wrong way. It's one of those movies that has a point, and if you miss that, you don't get any of it.

Their mistake is to watch this expecting a Mario movie. I know, it sounds like the right thing to expect, but hear me out. Fans of the game know what Mario is all about - powerups, angry mushrooms, winged turtles and flying blocks. If you watch this movie expecting that, you'll be disappointed, as you'll find NONE of it. But that's not to say it isn't worth watching.

Picture the scene: a couple of directors are asked to make a Mario movie by Nintendo, and they want it to be live action. That was the flavour at the time - take cartoon characters and make them real. Now, these directors know about Mario. They say "No way can that be done. Mario is all about being a cartoon. Jumping on little angry animals, everyone's a mushroom... It's a great game, and it'd make a good cartoon, but a live action version would just be moronic." "Oh, don't worry about that," says Nintendo, "just so long as you get the main elements in, do it how you want."

The directors go away, rubbing their chins, trying to think of a way to do that but still do justice to the games. And then they have a fascinating idea.

What if they don't do a Mario film, exactly. What if they do a sci-fi film, but fill it to the brim with Mario references, for the keen-eyed game fans?

That's what this movie is. If you watch it with that in mind, you will enjoy it. I've tested this theory out already on a friend who thought the film was a bit stupid when he saw it as a kid, but watched it yesterday with my little thesis in mind and he loved it.

What you get here is a quite serious (despite the light-hearted script) sci-fi flick about the nightmarish world ours may soon become: crowded, filthy, choked with pollution and overrun with a hate-filled populace who will fight you, yell at you, even try to shoot you if you pass too close. Run by a demonic well-dressed dictator politician (played to amazing effect by Dennis Hopper) who has let this world become the dark horror it is through neglect: there is no water any more, only sludge, and a slimy infestation of fungus has grown over everything, draped in great loops like one gigantic, chaotic spider web. Into this world come Mario and Luigi, similar to their game counterparts but more human, a pair of plumber brothers from Brooklyn who grew up together as orphans. They are trying to save a girl, who has been kidnapped and dragged here, and along the way they get wrapped up in something really horrifying: the president and his people are human, but human descended from dinosaurs instead of apes. He's found a way to revert his citizens back to their prehistoric roots, and with his army of lizard lackeys he's going to bridge the split between worlds (that formed when the meteorite that "killed" the dinosaurs hit) and take over our own.

And through all this we find references of the sort that Mario's biggest fans will drool over, so long as they are watching this in the way I suggest. These prove that the film has been put together not by someone ignorant of the games, but by someone very well versed in their lore. A large woman called Big Bertha, dressed all in red, is named in reference to a large red fish enemy from Mario 3. She wears mechanical boots named "Thwomp-Stompers", after the classic ice block enemies, and they are powered by capsules that look exactly like Bullet Bills, from Super Mario Bros 1. Shops are apparently owned by people with the same names as characters from the games (Hammer Bros and Bullet Bill), a protest singer is named after Toad, the happy little mushroom from the games, but his hair is shaved into the pattern on the shell of Lakitu, a fan favourite since day one. These references go on throughout the film and shape its world - the fungus, which turns out to be a conscious entity, helps the brothers in every way it can; they are saved on more than one occasion by mushrooms, in what has become a literal mushroom kingdom.

It's all in here if you keep your eyes peeled. Go in ready to watch not a Mario film, but a film that references Mario, and you will love it. It doesn't "change" anything from the games, because it is not any kind of filmed version of them, but it nods to them constantly.

Viewed in this light, it is a treat to watch, and a rare treat, because no other film has ever crammed in so many references to videogaming before. Simply put, a live action Mario film could never be made, and the directors asked to make one did a brilliant job at trying something new and original. Well worth the ten dollars for the DVD.

So Zany and Senseless It's Great, IMO of course
The story is absurd, despite it being inventive enough... It isn't a real movie version of the adventure, but more like a movie starring the characters, with constant bits of homage to the original series, such as a "Thwump" store, sniffits, the character's occasional and believable super-jump trademark, a dino named Yoshi, and last but by no means least, a GREAT scene with a Ba-Bomb (who was wearing Reebok shoes, which was funny!!).

Being the first movie ever based on a game (unless you count Clue), and also being inspired by a series that didn't call for the slightest bit of realism, this movie didn't have much call for reality. It's not sci-fi, but pure fantasy (meaning the plot's fiction isn't just the existance of the story's elements, but every plot sequence is based on how the world the movie takes place in is much unlike our own). Luckily, the screenplay, while sometimes quirky and silly, does call for some great moments, usually revolving around Koopa's idiot cousins Iggy and Spike (my favorite example - Spike:"Wrong again...how many times have we gotten it wrong?" Iggy:"YOU've gotten it wrong five times!" Spike:"Over five...OVER five...what percent is that?" Iggy:"I don't know, let me think......I don't know, but it's not good!" -- they couldn't figure out 100%!!).

Also going with the movie on a few other nice points are the performances of the main characters: Mario, Luigi, Koopa, Daisy, Iggy & Spike, which are nice and solid, despite that they don't really resemble the image of the characters themselves (especially Koopa). Hoskins does great in a more laid back role than say in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?', while John Legizamo starts off his more energetic personna that was used very well in his standup routine in the late 1990's, and he was enjoyable to the point in which whenever I see 'Moulin Rouge', I'm always like "YEAH!! LUIGI!!" (not to knock Moulin Rouge, a masterpeice in it's own, albeit weird). Samantha Mathis is another strong performance, as well as a beauty on screen as Daisy, the princess in distress, albeit she doesn't have many good moments to herself. And Dennis Hopper, whether you like him or not, is undeniably good in villainous roles like this...here he plays a meglomaniacal dictator of an entire civilization, but again, sadly he has fewer memorable moments than Mario and Luigi, which is a shame, as Koopa is one of the most popular villains of all time.

However, if you don't think the screenplay or casting were anygood, there are four things that this movie excells in, that are undeniable: superb special effects (from puppets to some amazing CGI for 1993), art design that's out of this world (from fungus to flashy lights to spikes on the clothes and walls of the buildings), intense action sequences, which are very high in pyrotechnics, flashing lights, and explosions, and a brilliant musical score, courtesy of Alan Silvestri (responsible for almost 80 movies so far, from the Father of the Bride movies to Roger Rabbit, to the Predetor's, to the Mummy Returns)! In my opinion, these three aspects warrent this movie a watching, as it's very high in production values!

I really can't understand why people hate this movie. It's not sophisticated, but it is intelligently enjoyable....Con Air is undeniably smart, although I certainly wouldn't call that movie sophisticated, would you? I think not! Yet still it's a great movie! Perfectly combining parody, B-movie aspects, and advanced sci-fi, this movie spells out perfect cult-classic, and I'm one of those who does like it! I won't even try to talk you into it if you hate it, but I just feel that this movie is good for its own reasons. If you're into zany, partially senseless, partial sci-fi type movies, this one just might be for you.

Great movie!
This is a GREAT movie! The special effects are excellent, the monster are awesome, the sets are great, the cast is great; production values incredible. Buy it!

A fun kids movie...
"Super Mario Bros." may have very little to do with the video game of the same name, but it is a lot of fun. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo play Mario and Luigi respectively. They're Brooklyn plumbers who stumble upon a parallel universe containing the evolved versions of dinosaurs. The leader of this new dimension is Koopa, played with charisma by Dennis Hopper. Koopa is in search of a meteorite piece that will merge the two dimensions and allow him to rule the Earth. This is an enjoyable film for the most part, though it has its disappointments, the biggest being that it's almost nothing like the game. But it contains quite a few laughs and good moments that should be a pleasure to kids. While this DVD contains no special features, it makes for a great collectible item. ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Smoke Jumpers
I never understood why Howie Long doesn't make more like this. I think he did a fine job. Good perfomances by Scott Glen and William Forsythe as well. Forsythe has bad guys down to an art. If you liked action films like "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone, "Diehard" with Bruce Willis, "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford, or "Shoot to Kill" with Tom Berenger you should like this. This is as good as many I have seen by these actors. While fighting a fire a group of convicts escape and Howie must stop them from kidnapping his friends. I would say give the critics the axe.

Howie Long Needs to Stick to Football
FIRESTORM is Howie Long's first film where he is the Marquee star and, and so far the only one. Which may be a good thing. The buff, square-jawed ex-football player and FOX NFL commentator should DEFINITELY stick to bantering with Terry Bradshaw and the rest of his FOX co-workers on Sunday afternoons. Perhaps I was expecting too much of this movie--after all, it is an action flick--but Long only seems to wear one facial expression throughout the movie, and he reads his dialogue like he's watching cue cards off camera. The rest of the cast is little better. Scott Glenn appears in every shot to be thinking "How did I get roped into making this movie?" Suzy Amis' character is pure cliche as the developing romantic interest for Long's character. The only joy to watch is William Forsythe, who seems to be the only one who really seems to enjoy playing his role. He plays bad guys very well--You may remember him as Al Capone during the short-lived syndicated revival of "The Untouchables" TV show a few years ago (Or Maybe not). Of course, the forest fire special effects are spectacular, and they may be the only reason I give the movie two stars instead of one. There's one question that puzzles me: How did two bird's eggs survive intact in an unpadded, unsealed metal case through A) a motorcycle ride over a rough forest floor B) a parachute jump into a river and C) immersion in a forest lake?

HEROIC HOWIE
Sports stars turned actors have never been serious threats at the Academy awards, and big Howie Long is certainly no exception. However, with his buff bod, icy blue eyes and a hint of malevolent humor, he acquits himself quite nicely in this blazing adventure. He plays the news fire chief of the Smoke Jumpers when buddy Scott Glenn is injured in a frightening opening rescue scene. The pyrotechnics in this movie are awesome and heat up the screen (ha ha). Suzy Amis is fun as the ornithologist who just happens to walk into the thick of things; William Forsythe is painfully effective as the cold-hearted killer who offs his prison escapee buddies so he can get all of his 37,000,000 dollars! There are some mind-blowing fire scenes and the firestorm itself is awesome.
A great kickbutt type of movie, and Howie's the man!!!

Howie Jumps Cons
I don't understand why Howie Long doesn't make more like this. I think he did a fine job. Good perfomances by Scott Glen and William Forsythe as well. Forsythe has being a bad guy down to an art. If you liked action films like "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone, or "Shoot to Kill" with Tom Berenger you should like this. This is as good as many I have seen by these actors. While fighting a fire a group of convicts escape and Howie must stop them from kidnapping his friends...

A Life Modification
"Firestorm" is one of those movies that can change a person's life. It changed mine. I have so much admiration for fire jumpers now since Howie Long battled those forest fires. Yes. He destroyed bad guys with a chainsaw, an ax and his bare hands. Almost eternal. Too bad Teri Hatcher didn't star in this movie to talk about Radio Shack and irk the honorable individual. Yes. I have been swayed by this cinematic event of the century to tell you about it. This event is charity to the human race. Sagacity! ... Read more

Reviews (46)

not exciting
This is one of Seagal's lesser efforts. All actors end up in some clunkers and this is one of Steven's. I feel he's been in 12 great movies and so it's not unusual to have some duds. The Patriot, The Foreigner, Out For A Kill, and Ticker are duds, but the other dozen films are worth a look and fun stuff.

BETTER THAN ''OUT FOR A KILL''? SH*T!
A DOCTOR MUST STOP A DEADLY DISEASE FROM KILLING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. LET ME JUST ASK THIS, JUST WHO IN THE F*** CARES? THE SUPRISINGLY LOW AMOUNT OF ACTION JUST STOPS THIS MOVIE DEAD IN IT'S TRACKS. SEAGAL SPENDS 95% OF THIS MOVIE TALKING TO PEOPLE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR A MOVIE! THIS MAKES ''FIRE DOWN BELOW'' SEEM LIKE ''UNDER SIEGE''! STEVEN SEAGAL FANS WILL BE ULTIMATELY DISSAPOINTED BY THIS MOVIE. STEVEN SEAGAL SHOULD FIRST BEAT THE SCREENPLAY WRITER'S A** FOR GIVING HIM THE WORST MATERIAL OF HIS CAREER. AND SEAGAL SHOULD THEN BEAT THE DIRECTOR'S A** FOR RELEASING THIS EMBARRASING MOVIE. THIS MOVIE AIN'T EVEN WORTH RENTING! IT'S MOVIES LIKE THIS THAT CAN KILL A MOVIE STAR'S CAREER. PLEASE, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS MOVIE. AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS MOVIE. I SEE WHY THIS PARTICULAR MOVIE WAS NEVER PUT IN THEATRES.

Where is the action?
Good story, decent acting, well shot, great score...BUT...Where is the action? Pretty weak and anti-climactic ending.

It's no "Out For Justice" but better than "Out For A Kill"
Not a lot of action. Not a lot of fights. Not much of anything. Just a bunch of extemists spreading a virus in a small Montana town. But how lucky that town is. There happens to be a martial arts expert who also finds cures for diseases who lives in that town. Steven Seagal looks pretty bored most of the time. It has some minor suspenseful moments here and there. You probably won't go bragging to your friends about how great this movie was. This movies best performance was by the head baddie, Gailard Sartain. (Hollywood Knights, The Real McCoy) He seemed to fit the charactor perfectly.
Definitely not one of Steven Seagal's best. As far as I know, this movie didn't win an Academy Award for best picture, or best screenplay. At least it's better than most Van Damme movies.

Very poorly made!
In this film Steven Seagal rides around in prairies and visits a secret underground lab to save the world from a viral weapon created by the government. However, the world isn't Earth, because it'd never happen in such a ridiculous way on Earth. For example, at one point the good guys want to distribute a helpful substance to the population. So do they package it in bags and hand it out, or have people come to a station to pick some up? No, they sprinkle it across the town from a helicopter. Good idea!

There's almost no subtlety in this film, even when it's really called for. No plot twist comes off as inventive or even interesting, and many outcomes are very easily guessed. There was one moment of anticipation that turned out opposite from how you'd expect, but even that was just sort of cheesy. Character development is pretty much limited to identifying which stereotype a person falls into (disgruntled idealist, concerned doctor, wise native, etc), so that without plot or characters, action is left as the selling point of the film. The action's almost non-existant, and very sporadic. It more or less consists of Seagal occasionally needing to distract a person, grab their gun, and knock them unconscious. And finally, the film's dramatic scenes are poorly done, as they're either really standard and not very forceful at all, or they're done in a strange way that minimizes their effect (for example a potentially thought-provoking scene at the end that's just sort of done in a sappy way). Poorly made. ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Smoke Jumpers
I never understood why Howie Long doesn't make more like this. I think he did a fine job. Good perfomances by Scott Glen and William Forsythe as well. Forsythe has bad guys down to an art. If you liked action films like "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone, "Diehard" with Bruce Willis, "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford, or "Shoot to Kill" with Tom Berenger you should like this. This is as good as many I have seen by these actors. While fighting a fire a group of convicts escape and Howie must stop them from kidnapping his friends. I would say give the critics the axe.

Howie Long Needs to Stick to Football
FIRESTORM is Howie Long's first film where he is the Marquee star and, and so far the only one. Which may be a good thing. The buff, square-jawed ex-football player and FOX NFL commentator should DEFINITELY stick to bantering with Terry Bradshaw and the rest of his FOX co-workers on Sunday afternoons. Perhaps I was expecting too much of this movie--after all, it is an action flick--but Long only seems to wear one facial expression throughout the movie, and he reads his dialogue like he's watching cue cards off camera. The rest of the cast is little better. Scott Glenn appears in every shot to be thinking "How did I get roped into making this movie?" Suzy Amis' character is pure cliche as the developing romantic interest for Long's character. The only joy to watch is William Forsythe, who seems to be the only one who really seems to enjoy playing his role. He plays bad guys very well--You may remember him as Al Capone during the short-lived syndicated revival of "The Untouchables" TV show a few years ago (Or Maybe not). Of course, the forest fire special effects are spectacular, and they may be the only reason I give the movie two stars instead of one. There's one question that puzzles me: How did two bird's eggs survive intact in an unpadded, unsealed metal case through A) a motorcycle ride over a rough forest floor B) a parachute jump into a river and C) immersion in a forest lake?

HEROIC HOWIE
Sports stars turned actors have never been serious threats at the Academy awards, and big Howie Long is certainly no exception. However, with his buff bod, icy blue eyes and a hint of malevolent humor, he acquits himself quite nicely in this blazing adventure. He plays the news fire chief of the Smoke Jumpers when buddy Scott Glenn is injured in a frightening opening rescue scene. The pyrotechnics in this movie are awesome and heat up the screen (ha ha). Suzy Amis is fun as the ornithologist who just happens to walk into the thick of things; William Forsythe is painfully effective as the cold-hearted killer who offs his prison escapee buddies so he can get all of his 37,000,000 dollars! There are some mind-blowing fire scenes and the firestorm itself is awesome.
A great kickbutt type of movie, and Howie's the man!!!

Howie Jumps Cons
I don't understand why Howie Long doesn't make more like this. I think he did a fine job. Good perfomances by Scott Glen and William Forsythe as well. Forsythe has being a bad guy down to an art. If you liked action films like "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone, or "Shoot to Kill" with Tom Berenger you should like this. This is as good as many I have seen by these actors. While fighting a fire a group of convicts escape and Howie must stop them from kidnapping his friends...

A Life Modification
"Firestorm" is one of those movies that can change a person's life. It changed mine. I have so much admiration for fire jumpers now since Howie Long battled those forest fires. Yes. He destroyed bad guys with a chainsaw, an ax and his bare hands. Almost eternal. Too bad Teri Hatcher didn't star in this movie to talk about Radio Shack and irk the honorable individual. Yes. I have been swayed by this cinematic event of the century to tell you about it. This event is charity to the human race. Sagacity! ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Smoke Jumpers
I never understood why Howie Long doesn't make more like this. I think he did a fine job. Good perfomances by Scott Glen and William Forsythe as well. Forsythe has bad guys down to an art. If you liked action films like "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone, "Diehard" with Bruce Willis, "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford, or "Shoot to Kill" with Tom Berenger you should like this. This is as good as many I have seen by these actors. While fighting a fire a group of convicts escape and Howie must stop them from kidnapping his friends. I would say give the critics the axe.

Howie Long Needs to Stick to Football
FIRESTORM is Howie Long's first film where he is the Marquee star and, and so far the only one. Which may be a good thing. The buff, square-jawed ex-football player and FOX NFL commentator should DEFINITELY stick to bantering with Terry Bradshaw and the rest of his FOX co-workers on Sunday afternoons. Perhaps I was expecting too much of this movie--after all, it is an action flick--but Long only seems to wear one facial expression throughout the movie, and he reads his dialogue like he's watching cue cards off camera. The rest of the cast is little better. Scott Glenn appears in every shot to be thinking "How did I get roped into making this movie?" Suzy Amis' character is pure cliche as the developing romantic interest for Long's character. The only joy to watch is William Forsythe, who seems to be the only one who really seems to enjoy playing his role. He plays bad guys very well--You may remember him as Al Capone during the short-lived syndicated revival of "The Untouchables" TV show a few years ago (Or Maybe not). Of course, the forest fire special effects are spectacular, and they may be the only reason I give the movie two stars instead of one. There's one question that puzzles me: How did two bird's eggs survive intact in an unpadded, unsealed metal case through A) a motorcycle ride over a rough forest floor B) a parachute jump into a river and C) immersion in a forest lake?

HEROIC HOWIE
Sports stars turned actors have never been serious threats at the Academy awards, and big Howie Long is certainly no exception. However, with his buff bod, icy blue eyes and a hint of malevolent humor, he acquits himself quite nicely in this blazing adventure. He plays the news fire chief of the Smoke Jumpers when buddy Scott Glenn is injured in a frightening opening rescue scene. The pyrotechnics in this movie are awesome and heat up the screen (ha ha). Suzy Amis is fun as the ornithologist who just happens to walk into the thick of things; William Forsythe is painfully effective as the cold-hearted killer who offs his prison escapee buddies so he can get all of his 37,000,000 dollars! There are some mind-blowing fire scenes and the firestorm itself is awesome.
A great kickbutt type of movie, and Howie's the man!!!

Howie Jumps Cons
I don't understand why Howie Long doesn't make more like this. I think he did a fine job. Good perfomances by Scott Glen and William Forsythe as well. Forsythe has being a bad guy down to an art. If you liked action films like "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone, or "Shoot to Kill" with Tom Berenger you should like this. This is as good as many I have seen by these actors. While fighting a fire a group of convicts escape and Howie must stop them from kidnapping his friends...

A Life Modification
"Firestorm" is one of those movies that can change a person's life. It changed mine. I have so much admiration for fire jumpers now since Howie Long battled those forest fires. Yes. He destroyed bad guys with a chainsaw, an ax and his bare hands. Almost eternal. Too bad Teri Hatcher didn't star in this movie to talk about Radio Shack and irk the honorable individual. Yes. I have been swayed by this cinematic event of the century to tell you about it. This event is charity to the human race. Sagacity! ... Read more