Customer Reviews

Blue Smoke

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Blue smoke" is a fast paced film, based on a novel of the same name written by Nora Roberts. This movie has ingredients of mystery and romance, and is likely to please those that are just looking for entertainment.

The main character is Reena (Alicia Witt), a young woman that doesn't like fire but decides to turn into an arson investigator in order to fight her fear. Things aren't easy for her, though, as she loses people she cares about to fire. Traumatized, Reena begins to suspect that a pyromaniac is stalking her, waiting to kill the people she loves. But is Reena right, or is her imagination too active?

All in all, I think that "Blue smoke" is a movie you shouldn't miss if you are a fan of Robert's books, and one you will probably like if you are not. From my point of view, this is not an outstanding film, but I believe it is good enough to engage your attention, and keep it. That is the reason why I give "Blue smoke" 3.5 stars.

Belen Alcat

Readers of Nora Roberts books will doubtless want to watch this adaptation of one of her popular novels (to date there are four of her books translated into made for television movies). The story, as adapted by Ronni Kern, is straight forward with enough of a mixture of love scenes and action scenes to please the audience. No, this is not a major league film, but it is made with a fine cast of actors who bring the drama to life.

Reena Hale (Alicia Witt) watched as her family's pizzeria burned to the ground after a scuffle between Reena's father Gib (Eric Keenleyside) and neighbor Joe Pastorelli (David Brown). Pastorelli is convicted of arson and swears to get even. Jump years later and Reena is now an arson investigator under the tutelage of Officer John Minger (Scott Bakula) who had solved the case in Reena's family's loss. Once credentialed, Reena finds herself stalked by an arsonist who just happens to include two of Reena's boyfriends as victims of deaths by fire. The story is a search and destroy mission to discover the identity of the arsonist and Reena is aided by her newest love interest Bo Goodnight (Matthew Settle) in a taut, well paced and well filmed adventure: if the identity of the arsonist is rather apparent early on, that doesn't diminish the suspense aspect of the film.

The supporting cast includes fine actor Talia Shire as Reena's mother, a role that adds a touch of human comedy as well as unconditional love that lifts the story just when it needs grounding, as well as some very fine fresh faces with promise. David Carson directs the many fire scenes with a good sense of 'reality' and delivers a sound message about the worth of arson investigators and firemen. But in the end it is Alicia Witt's movie and she carries her character well. Good entertainment. Grady Harp, September 07

This is the second Nora Roberts adaptation that I've seen, after "Angels Fall", and the first one where I've read the book. The book Blue Smoke was pretty good but not without flaws, and the movie shares some of its flaws. The biggest one is how long it takes for Reena to figure out who her nemesis is (although this was less obvious in the movie than in the book). One bad thing that the movie adds is that the climax feels more silly than suspenseful (especially because the bad guy actor speaks in a really silly voice, supposedly because he had cancer - anyway it was way too over-the-top).

I did like this movie better than "Angels Fall", which somehow felt cheaper. Alicia Witt did a pretty good job playing Reena, but the best performance was by the still very beautiful Talia Shire playing her mother. But overall, it's an average tv-movie, no better or worse than most of its kind, but definitely not good enough for a theatrical release. Recommended for Roberts fans and fans of romantic suspense made-for-tv-movies. Others needn't bother.

This movied is not as good as Nora Roberts novel but it comes really close. Alica Witt is good as the female lead. Scott Bakula looks good too, for an older guy. It was nice to see him in a movie again

I loved the movie when I saw it once before and I love the book. Alicia Witt is a great actress.

I just watched this movie on Easter Sunday and was a bit disappointed in how far from the book it was. Granted the ending was similar to the book, and a few parts, like Bo seeing Reena for the first time matched the book, but that's pretty much were it ended. A lot of liberties were taken with the manuscript and a lot of characters were either changed, hence the firefighter Hugh went from a couple dates in the book and being shot and burnt to he and Reena being engaged and him blown up in a florist shop, and other good characters left out all together. Also, the cat and mouse game of who was setting the fires was greatly played down to the point the plot was virtually lost.
The movie was okay, the actors chosen were good, but it didn't come close to being as good as the book was.

Excellent DVD. Perhaps more of Nora Roberts books will be produced as
movies.

As the DVD back cover says, 'This movie has passion, family food and fire.' And they were correct. Alicia Witt stars as Reena who at the age of eleven watches with fascination as her parents business burns to the ground. When the fire is put out she meets Scott Bakula's character, Officer John Minger, that is an arson investigator. So it is no surprise as we flash forward and we see that she has become an arson investigator herself.

There is the requisite romance required for these made for T.V. movies. But in this movie our heroine seems to have attracted the attention of a psychotic arsonist who seems determined to set on fire everything she loves. Will she be able to find this pyromaniac before her new love goes up in flames? The movie also touches on the importance of a arson investigators job.

This made-for-TV adaptation of "Blue Smoke" is by far the best translation of book to movie in the Nora Roberts collection. In particular, strong performances from Alicia Witt and Matthew Settle anchor a solid story, one focused as much on the fire investigations Reena pursues as her growing relationship with Bo. Settle has the perfect blend of puppy-dog loyalty and strong, secure masculinity to portray the blue-collar hero who fell in love at first sight, and Witt's intensely focused Reena is well balanced by the soft, sad memories that haunt her. Scott Bakula shines in the role of Reena's mentor, grounding her but letting her take the lead. Talia Shire is the fiery matriarch of Reena's family; unusually for Roberts, here she gives us a heroine embedded in a loving, close family.

It's not all that hard to figure out who the villain is, but that's beside the point in a romance. The real focus of this story is on the feisty, never-say-die heroine, a woman finding her way in a traditional man's career, with drive and energy. Roberts has a penchant for these strong women -- Eve Dallas, Phoebe MacNamara, and a host of other overcaffeinated but sensitive heroines populate her books. Reena is another in this mold, a woman whose gradual discovery of real love brought me back to the book, and to this movie, several times.

Having recently seen the movie "Something Borrowed," I grew curious about Colin Egglesfield and saw he would be in Carnal Innocence, another Roberts adaption. Read the book, saw the movie and was pretty satisfied with the outcome so I decided to invest in the other books-to-movie adaptions. So far it's been a pretty big disappointment, starting with Blue Smoke.

I couldn't have been more devastated when I found out that Alicia Witt was to play Reena. I have nothing against Miss Witt, but the girl cannot act to save her life, in addition to the fact that Reena is supposed to have a bundle of curly blonde hair. How hard would it have been to find a blonde actress for the part? She was completely unbelievable in the role and it was just overall very disappointing.

Granted, I can't pass full judgment as I didn't continue watching the movie, but it's rare for me to stop only twenty minutes or so in and not pick it back up.

I found Bo to be an idiot in the movie and he definitely wasn't what I envisioned for Bo Goodnight. I was really disappointed with the acting in the movie. There have been plenty of Lifetime movies that have had good acting, but this was not one of them. If you want a good/better movie adaptation of a Nora Roberts book, check out Carolina Moon and/or Carnal Innocence. I may finish this movie some day, but I doubt it. I'd rather have the world I created in my own head than the mess viewers were given instead.