Movie Review: Ladder 49

Ladder 49

I grew up knowing a number of police officers and firefighters in my small town because my dad worked with them all. I didn't really consider them heroic despite the fact they occasionally were. I knew them as Gary who, to my mother's everlasting upset, offered to teach me to water ski when I was about 8; as Dickie-Bird who played hand after hand of card games with me and my sister; or as Norm who was always nice to me as a child and who, years later, proved a great comfort when I was the victim of a crime. 9/11 brought home to me, as it did to so many other Americans, just what heroes our friends and neighbors really are when their job calls for them to do something many would lack the courage to attempt. Ladder 49 is obviously intended to be homage to those men, and to an extent it succeeds. But its very hero worship also makes it less of a movie than it should have been.

The movie opens on the scene of a horrific fire in Baltimore. Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) is one of the men sent into the 20-story building to rescue three men believed to be trapped there. When he himself becomes trapped, Chief Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), Jack's boss and longtime friend, sends a crew in to rescue him. While Jack waits for his brothers to get to him and help him out of the inferno, he relives much of his life as a firefighter via flashback.

From his first day as a rookie, Jack is in awe of firefighters and in love with the notion of becoming one himself. Between the excitement and fear of his first fire, and the practical joke-filled camaraderie of his fire house, he finds his place. He meets the man destined to be his best friend there (Dennis Gauquin, played by Billy Burke); and he learns from veterans like Kennedy and the cantankerous Lenny Richter (Robert Patrick). The fire house even plays a role in Jack's meeting his wife; and along with his wife Linda (Jacinda Barett), the firefighters of Ladder 49 become Jack's much loved family. But with all of the good memories also come those that so many firefighters must painfully endure: the death or serious injury of men with whom they've become very close, and the futile attempts to calm the fear that spouses face every time they kiss their husbands good-bye before another shift.

Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta spent some weeks with the real Baltimore Fire Department undergoing training as firefighters. Phoenix has, in several interviews, expressed his awe for the men who do the job for real. He is, he says, afraid of heights among other things. It must have been an adventure for the two filming Ladder 49 since the fire effects are terrifying, and many of the men appear to be right in the middle of them. In one instance likely to have a been a personal challenge to Phoenix, his character dangles well above the street during a rescue. But as Phoenix put it, one of the things he learned from real life firefighters was that fears don't need to be overcome but rather controlled, and he apparently managed to do just that (though it can be argued his genuine fear made that scene all the more believable for those of us watching).

Those same effects can't help but show the rest of us just what kind of a job these people do on a regular basis, and it's impressive to say the least. Unfortunately, even as the firefighting is intense and gripping, the storyline itself is uninteresting and, in a word, really sappy. So many of the firefighters in the movie are too altruistic to be true and are, as a result, dull. Phoenix, who is a brilliant actor, shines here, but isn't given enough meat to sink his teeth into to give the performance he's capable of. Travolta is also quite good, but again suffers from one-dimensionality courtesy of a mediocre script. The supporting cast is fine, but we're offered little but the virtual sainthood of these men (Robert Patrick is fortunate to play the rare exception, and he chews up the scenery with the opportunities he's given). In fact, it's often hard to tell one character from another let alone care what happens to them (the few human foibles that are presented are glossed over almost as an aside).

Ladder 49 is okay, and I imagine a lot of firefighters will appreciate it for the thought if nothing else. Unfortunately, the rest of us typically want more than that when we pay our money for admission.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Ladder 49 is rated PG-13 for "intense fire and rescue situations" and "language." While the language (with one exception) wasn't all that bad, the fire and rescue scenes were, indeed, intense. I'd not recommend this movie for young children as a result. Those from about 11 or so and up, though, should be fine unless they're particularly prone to letting their imaginations get away from them.