Into The Fire

Written in the wake of 9/11, first-time writer and director Michael C. Phelan's ambitious but trite first film weaves together three schematic stories of loss and rebirth. NYPD Lt. Walter Hartwig Jr. (Sean Patrick Flanery) holds himself responsible for the destruction of his entire family: His little sister drowned when they were children at the beach; his mother died brokenhearted (perhaps a suicide) and his lifeguard father (Ron McLarty) descended into madness. Walter, who's haunted by thoughts of killing himself by swimming out to sea, joined the police department's Harbor Unit in hopes of one day saving someone, but all he does is fish corpses out of the water. O...