Blue Smoke

Good enough to engage your attention, and keep it...
"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

Above Average Made for TV Film
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...

Average tv movie
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...

Click to Editorial Reviews