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Ladder 49 (2004)

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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

Time Out London 1796: January 19-26 2005

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User reviews of this film

Leona Luk said...

Posted on Jul 17 2007 00:08 This has everything one would expect from a fireman picture - there's the joke on the rookie, the death of a fellow firefighter, the fight with the wife about safety, the child saved which reaffirms why firefighters run into buildings - there's also a bit of a heart too. While seemingly ordinary, I felt that everything was done with enough care that I wanted to keep watching.
I found it only slightly annoying that the only way to determine how many years had passed in the film was by looking at Travolta's greying sideburns, or the growing kids; other than this, there was very little to judge by.
Phoenix provides another great performance - he always seems to shine, regardless of what film he might be in.

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