When you watch a movie, do you wonder how it got made? I don't mean how the film was shot, I mean how the project was able to get off the ground. In the case of the movie Fire with Fire, I noticed two things -- Director David Barrett has done stunt work on nearly 70 projects and that the movie has a cast of very familiar faces. My hypothesis is that on every project on which he worked, Barrett asked various actors if they would appear in his movie, should he every get the chance to direct. (The movie also boasts 35 (yes, 35!) producers and I can't help but think that Barrett asked various producers a similar question.) Whatever the case, Fire with Fire is here and we must decide if it was worth the time of all of these actors.

Josh Duhamel stars in Fire with Fire as Jeremy Coleman, a Long Beach, California fire fighter who's very popular with his co-workers and in the neighborhood. Jeremy stops at a convenience store one night, where he witnesses David Hagan (Vincent D'Onofrio) murder two people. Jeremy is able to get away, but not before he is shot as well. Police detective Mike Cella (Bruce Willis) and District Attorney Karen Westlake (Bonnie Somerville) are assigned to the case and convince Jeremy to enter the witness protection program so that he can testify against Hagan. Jeremy agrees and the story jumps ahead a few month. Jeremy is living in New Orleans and he's started seeing Federal Marshall Talia Durham (Rosario Dawson). When they are attacked, Jeremy decides that enough is enough. He flees protective custody and heads back to California, determined to stop Hagan one way or another.

It's been a while since we've had an entry into the "I've heard of these people, why haven't I heard of this movie" files, and Fire with Fire is a good one. Along with the actors listed above, the movie boasts appearances by Richard Schiff, Vinnie Jones, Kevin Dunn, 50 Cent, Julian McMahon, James Lesure, and Eric Winter. You may not recognize all of those names, but if you saw the actors on-screen, you'd say, "I've seen that guy before." What made these people get involved? Was it Barrett's experience behind the camera on various TV shows? Was it the script by Tom O'Connor? Was it simultaneous phone calls by all 35 producers?

No matter the case, all of these people have found themselves in one of the most decidedly mediocre movies which I've ever seen. The movie's crime-revenge plot is pretty basic and familiar. Barrett keeps the story moving along at a good pace, but there aren't any true twists to the plot. At 97 minutes, the movie is a good length and doesn't wear out its welcome. The movie contains some good action set-pieces, but nothing which we haven't seen before.

In short, Fire with Fire feels very safe and adequate. The movie never takes any chances and never tries to be anything but what it is, a streamlined action drama. The characters are fairly well-drawn, but none of them fall outside of the norm, (Jeremy is the nice, cool fireman, Mike is the cop who lost his partner, Karen is the determined female DA.) The only character who has any real color to them is Hagan and that is mostly due to D'Onofrio's cold performance and the fact that he has a huge red swastika tattooed on his neck. Nothing tells society that you're staying on your meds like having a huge red swastika tattooed on your neck. (Edward Norton's character from American History X just called and said that it was a little over the top, even for his taste.) As for the rest of the cast, they do a good job. Duhamel plays the same kind of likable, laid back guy which he has in other movies. (Although, I don't know how he ended up with someone like Fergie.) Willis has been appearing in more and more movies like this as of late, and his performance is almost questionable until we get to the scene where he has to rough somebody up.

Here's the bottom line: Fire with Fire is the kind of movie which you'd come across on cable late at night and not give a second though to...except in this case you'd stop and wonder what Bruce Willis is doing. The movie is competently made and has a nice look, and, at the end of the day, is quite watchable. (My wife and I started the movie and had to stop it. The next night she stated, "I want to finish that movie, but I don't know why.") Don't expect anything groundbreaking from Fire with Fire, but it is a solid action movie which boasts a better resume than most of its peers.

Fire with Fire has a Ford GT40 in the opening shot which is never re-visited on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Lionsgate. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 34 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing only mild grain at times and no defects from the source material. The colors look good and the image is never overly dark or bright, even though many scenes take place at night. The film's slick look is helped by the crispness of the image. This leads to a nice level of detail and the depth of the image is good as well. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The track sports effective stereo effects which show good separation. The surround speakers are very active in the action scenes, most notably the finale. This part of the movie works quite well, as we can make out distinct sounds. The various gunshots and explosions work the subwoofer.

The Fire with Fire Blu-ray Disc contains a few extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director David Barrett and Cinematographer Christopher Probst. This is followed by a second COMMENTARY with Vincent D'Onofrio, Eric Winter, and James Lesure. "Behind the Scenes" (9 minutes) offers a scant amount of on-set footage, as it's mainly comprised of clips from the movie and interviews with various members of the cast and crew. The speakers essentially rehash the story and describe their characters. We get "Extended Interviews" with these individuals as well, in a piece which is broken into nine parts. The final extra is a TRAILER for the film.