Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Ladder 49 (2004)

Director: Jay Russell

Average user rating
1 review

Movie review

From Time Out London

There’s a definite post-9/11 feel to this slice-of-life drama looking at the everyday heroics of America’s firemen. It’s largely earnest and reflective, compared to the likes of 1991’s stellar ‘Backdraft’ which played for thrills, spills and wowser pyrotechnic effects, yet somehow so much sincerity, laudable though it is, can’t do much for a story built from a whole heap of clichés. We first see Joaquin Phoenix’s firefighter Jack Morrison grittily doing his job, saving a frightened victim from a raging chemical factory blaze, before an explosion blows away the floor from underneath him and leaves him trapped somewhere in the collapsed building. With his fellow firemen battling their way towards him, directed by John Travolta’s caring commander, flashbacks chart his history in the service as his fate hangs in the balance.

Unfortunately, this whole saga is a pedestrian assemblage of everything you’d expect – the rookie gets joshed, his first fire’s scary, his wife worries, he fears for his kids – intercut with the sort of synthetic guy-type bonhomie which looks like it might turn into a beer commercial at any moment. It’s not brazenly exploitative, but the filmmakers know the bottom line: the audience isn’t going to turn up for a firefighting flick without a few choice moments of flame-grilled carnage. They at least try to be discreet about it.

Phoenix, the stand-out turn, goes easy on the grandstanding, delivering instead an ordinary guy for whom heroism is a matter of professional focus on his training. The resolution seeks to pay tribute to his real-life counterparts, but a better, less superficial movie would surely have benefited all concerned.

Author: TJ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out London 1796: January 19-26 2005

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • chels said...
    Posted on May 08 2009 17:12 I believe that this film was quite good. I enjoyed every bit of it. It was sad in places but most films have sadness in them. Other than that it was dramatic and romantic and I enjoy films like this.
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Ladder 49

Watch Trailer 1

Cast & crew

Director: Jay Russell

Producer: Casey Silver

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta, Jacinda Barrett, Robert Patrick, Morris Chestnut, Billy Burke, Balthazar Getty, Tim Guinee, Kevin Chapman, Jay Hernandez, Kevin Daniels, Robert Logan Lewis, Brooke Hamlin, Spencer Berglund full cast

Duration: 115 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.