Ladder 49
is a tribute to firefighters in the post 9/11 world, it emphasizes
the heroism and dedication to the job it takes to be a firefighter
in a big city and how difficult life can be for both the men on
the job and their families.
The film focuses on
Baltimore
firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), who after dramatically
saving a man’s life in a high-rise blaze, falls into the burning
rubble knocking him unconscious. From this point on, the film flows
back and forth from Jack’s struggle to survive in the rubble and find
a way out to flashbacks telling Jack’s story from his first day on the
job up until this fateful day.
The story focuses
on Jack’s bonding with his fellow firefighters, his father-son like
relationship with his Captain Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), the
difficulties his family faces in worrying about him, and (of course)
his actual firefights. Jack spends the majority of his time with the
guys either in the firehouse playing practical jokes on one another or
at the local pub getting drunk and mulling over the day’s excitement.
During the course of the film, Jack falls in love, marries, and has
kids with a girl (Jacinda Barrett) he first meets in the supermarket
with a fellow firefighter. Their relationship is always taking a back
seat to his firefighting ambitions and they have a difficult time
dealing with the reality that he might not make it home some day. The
film takes us through Jack’s first fire all the way through some very
bad on the job experiences where friends and co-workers have perished
or have been severely hurt fighting fires. When the film
fast-forwards back to present-day (intermediately), Jack’s crew is
struggling to find him in the burning wreckage as time is running
out. Mike gets on the scene and talks with Jack over the radio trying
to find him a way out or the other guys a way in, but he may be too
late.
CRITIQUE
Ladder 49 is respectful
to the dangerous job of being a firefighter and it emphasizes their
heroism. Problem is, it is so respectful that it is unwilling to make
these characters have any flaws whatsoever, which makes them
completely unrealistic, and it pigeon holes them as heroes without
giving them any depth or true character. It also makes the film
horribly dull as there really is no central conflict or interesting
plot developments, it just drives the point home over and over again
that firefighting is dangerous and these guys are heroic. The film is
also agonizingly slow with so many similar scenes driving home that
same point.
The acting isn’t
quite bad in the film, but the characters they inhabit are so
unrealistic and the dialogue they work with is so atrocious that it
seems wooden and lifeless. Joaquin Phoenix has most of the screen
time and he just has nothing to work with. He is usually such a
lively, naturalistic type of actor who always brings some originality
and edge to the roles he plays. Unfortunately, he is just lifeless
here, but again I blame the horrendous dialogue and dull storyline.
John Travolta seems almost non-existent here, he’s not bad in the
film, it’s just that the character is a complete snore. The
supporting cast is mostly all of the guys in the fire department who
just go around laughing pulling intensely lame practical jokes on one
another (I mean these are adults pulling middle school pranks), so no
one stands out. The only person who comes across well in this is
Jacinda Barrett (from The Real World TV show) as Phoenix’s wife
who has some terrific earlier scenes with Phoenix (when he is courting
her).
The direction is
simply awful by Jay Russell. From the use of special effects (the
rats in the hallway scene was hilariously bad) to the way he frames
the scene (I felt like I was looking at a movie set for most of the
film) to the way he makes even great actors seemingly disappear from
the film (a film with Phoenix and Travolta shouldn’t be this bad),
Russell completely fails with this film. His use of cheesy pop songs
to underline his overbearing theme is just sickening, there is one
grating song that plays almost its entirety over the last scenes of
the film that makes the ending almost unbearable (and in the extras we
get the music video!).
This is a lifeless,
2-dimensional and ridiculously safe film with no excitement and really
no plot. The screenwriter Lewis Colick has essentially written an
almost plot-less film. The only conflict in the story is that Phoenix
has a few scenes where he feels he might want to consider quitting
because it’s too dangerous, but that is quickly put to bed and instead
we get anti-climatic firefights, nonstop funeral scenes, lame
practical jokes, and some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard. And
the way the story plays out with the present day interrupted with
flashbacks is a horrible idea, the only tension in the film is
constantly interrupted to the point were it becomes unbearably
annoying.
If I haven’t made
it clear enough, let me just say this is a very bad film (and a very
manipulative one) masquerading as an important film.
THE VIDEO
The transfer is
very clear and crisp; the colors are vibrant and lucid. It is a
strong, quality video transfer.
THE AUDIO
The audio is
presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it is outstandingly clear and
crisp; the balances are perfect, the dialogue sounds great and the
firefights have great surround sound activity.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary with
director Jay Russell and editor Bud Smith
– This is a strange commentary, there are unusually long periods of
silence and then all of a sudden their voices will chime in incredibly
loud and harsh (I thought it might have been my sound system but it
wasn’t). It makes it hard to watch. When they are talking they do
give some interesting insight into the making of, especially with
making the fire scenes look authentic. They also talk about how the
film was conceptualized and written before 9/11 and then “adjusted”
just a bit as not to offend. I’m assuming that it was “adjusted”
quite a bit.
The Making of
Ladder 49 – This is actually a nice extra, brief (about 20 minutes) and tight.
It includes three distinct pieces. The director and other crewmembers
discuss shooting in Baltimore and how underused the city is in film.
The next section goes into the training that the actors had. Travolta
had too seek medical attention for burning his hands. And Phoenix
conquered his fear of heights during production and did most of his
own stunts. The last piece goes into detail on the Warehouse fire
scene, discussing all the various details that went into shooting the
scene.
Everyday Heroes
– This is a short but emotionally poignant tribute to firefighters
that is a better feature than the entirety of the film. This includes
real interviews and discussions with Baltimore firemen and it goes
into the life of one particular firefighter interviewing his wife and
daughters. Very touching tribute to these everyday heroes.
Deleted Scenes
– These are the obligatory deleted scenes, problem is there should
have been a bunch more. The film needed an extra 30 minutes cut.
Most of these deleted scenes are very inconsequential except for one
where Phoenix comes home to see that the World Trade Center was
attacked which has some needed poignancy.
Music Video for
Robbie Robertson’s “Shine Your Light”
– I think I made my thoughts clear about what I thought of this awful
song.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Firefighters have
intensely dangerous jobs and they are real life heroes who deserve a
film that not only honors them, but also truly captures what their
lives are like. Ladder 49 is not that film.
