The real meat of the film is in his past and it is easy during long flash backs to forget about his predicament. In an effort to show the professionalism of the firemen (who put all personal problems aside when they climb on the truck), the character conflicts that do exist are fairly low-key and are all very quickly resolved, usually within the same scene in which they arise.Īs a result, all of the narrative drive of the film is built by comparing Jack’s present situation with his past, with few conflicts carrying over from flashback to flashback. While it valiantly tries to stay away from melodrama, it produces the unfortunate side effect of making the film itself bland. The old saying goes ‘drama is conflict’ and Ladder 49 offers little of either outside of the fires themselves. Unfortunately, the same lack of embellishment is the film’s biggest problem. These men and women often do their job without recognition, or the desire for it, and the fact that Ladder 49 tries to put their heroism front and center without embellishment is commendable. The acting is at its best in the large, ensemble scenes.Īt its heart, it’s a film that celebrates firefighters and what they do. Joaquin Phoenix is steady as Jack, and he has excellent chemistry with John Travolta as his experienced Captain, and Jacinda Barrett as his wife. Firefighters are real heroes who face real dangers every day, and Ladder 49 is at its best when it showcases that fact. The highlights of the film are the actual firefighting scenes themselves. While it occasionally resorts to cliché (hazing the rookie on his first day, the rookie’s first fire, etc.) it does so earnestly and without ever falling into melodrama. The movie is very sincere in its portrayal of firefighters and their lives. It is an earnest look into the physical and emotional requirements (and the toll it takes) of being the type of person who, as the movie says several times, ‘runs into a fire while others are running out.’ Specifically it is about being, and what it takes to be, a firefighter. It may seem really obvious to say, but Ladder 49 is a movie about firefighters. As other firemen work to rescue him from the rubble and flames, he reflects back over the previous ten years of his life and how he got to the place he’s in, both literally and figuratively.
When he risks his own life to save a trapped man, he becomes trapped himself. Jack Morrison is a veteran firefighter working to rescue trapped workers at a large industrial fire.
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