"Ladder 49" attempts to portray the life of firefighters with dramatic realism. The film, directed by Jay Russell and written by Lewis Colick, follows the life of firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), a hero-type taught and mentored by Captain Mike Kennedy (John Travolta).
The film progresses as a series of flashbacks experienced by Jack Morrison, who drifts in and out of consciousness after being injured in a fall that leaves him trapped in a burning building. This flashback technique allows the audience to identify with Jack emotionally, and gives the audience a sense of his life.
The goal of the production was to explain the life of a firefighter as clearly and realistically as possible. Most of the cast pulled this off flawlessly, with the exception of Travolta.
In the film, Travolta plays a stern, clean-cut, emotionally remote fire chief. However, he acts the role far too well. He is far too distant and his attempts to connect emotionally with other characters are plagued by a robotic coldness.
Jack Morrison and his wife Linda, played by Jacinda Barret, both enacted the stereotypical na??ve young couple perfectly. Their emotional facial expressions speak volumes of inner drama that far exceeded that of the film's dialogue.
The film balanced segments of intense drama and suspense with frequent comic relief, which consisted mainly of practical jokes the firefighters played on one another. As a young cadet, Morrison gets goosed with the placement of a large waterfowl in his locker.
The tragedy of the film consisted largely of Morrison watching his fellow firefighter friends fall victim to the dangers of their occupation. Morrison questions his own mortality, which leads to drama between him, his wife, and his children.
"I don't want you to get hurt dad," says his son Nicky (Spencer Berglund). A great deal of attention is focused on the family of the firefighter in this movie.
References to the Catholic Church and to religion in general are prevalent in the film, with good reason. The film has much to do with mourning and burial practices. This morbid theme is balanced by the birth of new life, including the baptismal scene of one of Morrison's children.
An important message is conveyed by one of the firefighters when Jack first joins the firehouse. He is told that after you fight enough fires you find God, and indeed, many of the firefighters do so before the end of the film.
As with any new action movie, audiences can expect a certain number of awe-inspiring special effects and "Ladder 49" does not disappoint in the area of controlled pyrotechnics. The film displays blazing infernos a-plenty, with flaming hunks of falling debris for good measure. Exciting action sequences include Morrison dangling by a rope off the side of a burning building in an attempt to save a panicked civilian.
The soundtrack of the film was quite interesting and contradicted the Baltimore city scenery. The first half of the movie included Irish tunes like "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" by The Pogues and "A Call To Courage" by William Ross; they sounded like they were straight out of "Braveheart."
