I was dubious of whether it would work out due to it being SyFy and that it was directed by Jim Wynorski. However I was very intrigued by its idea, and thought to myself if done in the right way Fire From Below could be halfway decent. Unfortunately while the idea was neat, the film's ineptness in almost every single department means that Fire From Below is a rather lukewarm experience rather than a flaming hot one. Kevin Sorbo does have likability and an easygoing charisma which you can see in this film. Glenn Morshower also manages to ooze authority, though his role is one that we've seen so many times. On the negative side, Sorbo's performance is the only thing about Fire From Below that works. None of the rest of the cast come close to matching him, ranging to bad to non-existent acting skills. In all fairness though, their characters, if we forget for a second that they are walking clichés, are nowhere near developed or likable enough to really connect to the viewer, and their dialogue will make your teeth grind together at the sheer banality of it all. The special effects look half-finished and colourless, managing to look cheap against everything else that's going on, while the editing is very choppy especially in the action sequences. I'd say the worst asset is the story, here logic and science gets thrown out of the window(not uncommon actually with SyFy), leaving repetitive underground scenes, lamely choreographed action sequences that look as though they were actually improvised on the spot, unintentionally hilarious killings(teens exploding while taking a leak, really) and the needless and stupid inclusion of having news on and I think over-explaining things that we have seen before that are only there to pad out the running time. In the end the running time actually feels too long for the thinness of the story structure here as well. All in all, had potential but chose to ignore it. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Fire from Below
