Ladder 49
Tags: melodrama, action, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) saving a man's life in a massive four-alarm fire in a 20-story concrete grain elevator/warehouse in the Canton waterfront neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland; however the grain being stored in the warehouse explodes, sending Jack falling through several floors, breaking his leg on landing. The film follows the efforts of the other men in his unit, Ladder Company 49, led by the commands of Deputy Chief Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), Jack's longtime mentor, to rescue him while Morrison tries to reach a safe area of the burning structure. Interspersed with the current rescue efforts are a series of flashbacks showing how Jack joined the fire department, his first meeting (at a supermarket) with the woman who would eventually become his wife (Jacinda Barrett), his relationship with his children, and the bonds he formed and the trials and tribulations he endured with his fellow firefighters.
After graduating from the fire academy, Jack is sent to work on Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) Engine Company 33, in the busiest firehouse in the city. Quartered with Engine 33 is Ladder Company 49. On Engine 33, Jack learns the ropes of firefighting. He quickly becomes close friends with his fellow firefighters, including Mike, his Captain at the time. Jack's first fire takes place at a burning vacant rowhouse. Engine 33 and Ladder 49 respond and are the first companies on the scene. Jack and Mike enter the building with a hose line and tackle the blaze, with Jack on the nozzle of the hose. They quickly and triumphantly extinguish it.
After some time working on Engine 33, Jack arrives at the scene of another vacant rowhouse fire, where a fellow firefighter from Ladder 49, Dennis Gauquin (Billy Burke), dies after falling through a roof of the building. Jack decides, although it is more dangerous, to take his friend's position as a "truckie", a search and rescue member on Ladder 49 by transferring to the Truck.
As the years go by, Jack suffers some traumatic experiences, including rescuing a man from the ledge of a burning high-rise building in Downtown Baltimore, and witnessing another friend and fellow firefighter from Ladder 49, Tommy Drake (Morris Chestnut), burned beyond recognition following a steam explosion at an industrial building who continues firefighting even after sustaining such a terrible injury. He finds the work rewarding, but his wife initially worries about his safety and opposes the change. However, she eventually accepts his new role and even talks him out of taking an administrative position that Mike, who has now become a Deputy Chief, offers him.
One Christmas Eve, Jack and the members of Engine 33 and Ladder 49 respond to a burning apartment building. Jack is able to rescue a young girl trapped in an engulfed apartment, but is briefly trapped himself before being rescued by a fellow Firefighter from Ladder 49, Leonard "Lenny" Richter (Robert Patrick). Both men receive the department's Medal of Valor for their actions.
Back at the grain building fire that opened the film, Jack's fellow firefighters become extremely determined to rescue him, and Jack does his best to reach the only possible safe area Mike tells him about. However, upon reaching that room he sees that the only exit is cut off by raging flames and, out of air and with the heat intensifying, Jack realizes his situation is hopeless. He radios Mike to pull his men back, so no one else will be hurt while trying to rescue him. Mike reluctantly agrees, and Jack accepts his fate to die in the fire, devastating Mike.
At Jack's funeral, Mike delivers an emotional eulogy in celebration of Jack's life, which inspires a standing ovation from friends and family in attendance. Jack's body is then carried to his resting place, with full honors, on the back of Engine 33 in a typical fireman's funeral procession. The film ends Mike and the guys en route to a call while the former flashes back to Jack and his fellow firefighters going to fires and a final shot of Mike and Jack coming out of Jack's first ever burning building in triumph.

Review: Ladder 49 starts with a fire in a large Baltimore factory where multiple firemen have charged to look for survivors and extinguish the posing threat.Lead by seasoned veteran Jack Morrison (Pheonix), the firemen are able to rescue a helpless employee before the floor gives way trapping Morrison within the building inferno.
We see Jack as he enters the fire hall for the first time and meets Captain Mike Kennedy (John Travolta) who takes the new probie under his wing and over the years develops a bond that includes being there when Jack gets married, has kids and steps into the shoes of a search and rescue firefighter who perishes when a roof gives way during a routine house fire.
We learn how the firemen bond, how they drink together rather heavily and regularly and how when they lose one of their own, the emotional impact on them and their familiesDon't get me wrong, all the above drama plays out while buildings burn, people are rescued from skyscrapers and people are saved from what would be sheer death if not for the charging brave souls of the local Fire Department.
Instead, we see Jack being trapped in the opening sequence and we can pretty much see the writing on the wall before the tragic events play out before our eyes.For all the focus played to the rising star Pheonix, it is the supporting cast that really stands out within the confines of the 105 minute running time.
Backdraft did little to bolster our impression of the firefighting community while Ladder 49 shows them for what they deserve to be recognized as  heroes who at the sound of an alarm will put themselves in harms way to help others..
There are visual effects of fires a-blazing and fire fighting scenes inside and outside of buildings, but there's no dramatic build up to 'glamour' dazzle you like other Hollywood (blockbuster) movies.
As his co-workers (led by chief John Travolta) try to figure out a way to help him escape, Phoenix thinks about the last 10 years of his life.
This truck comprises of the brave men in the fire department's rescue team, those who risk their lives going into burning buildings without water (unlike Engine 33's), for the sole mission of saving other people's lives.Which raises the question everyone asks of emergency responders (police, fire dept, etc) - what makes them do what they do?
In this case, also raised in the movie, what makes them rush into a burning building when everyone else is running out?We follow the life of Joaquin Phoenix's character, Jack Morrison, whom we see from rookie firefighter (waterboy) to hero, from singlehood to fatherhood.
Ladder 49 introduces us to the life of Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), a firefighter for the Baltimore City fire department.
Station 33 Captain Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), and the other veteran firefighters love to play jokes on the new rookies, including Jack.
Jack Morrison's (the Phoenix character) wife, played by Whats-her-name (she's new, but will surely become a star), was so un-whiny and real that I swear know her (I don't, she's fictional, but you know what I mean).
Joaquin Phoenix gives a moving performance in "Ladder 49," playing a Baltimore firefighter who goes from rookie to 10-year veteran in the course of the story.Although its chief selling point is its spectacular - but never hyperbolic - fire sequences, "Ladder 49" is actually at its most compelling when it focuses on the struggle firemen go through trying to balance their high risk occupation with their role as husband and father.In addition to Phoenix, who brings a self-effacing strength and heroism to his character, there are fine performances by John Travolta as the captain of the station, and Jacinda Barrett as Phoenix's understanding but understandably concerned wife.In the first half of the film, the screenplay threatens to erupt into a raging inferno of stereotypes and clichés, as the characters take an occasional time out from firefighting for puppy love romance at the supermarket, frat boy antics at the fire station and domestic squabbles involving neglected wives and children at the old homestead.
Joaquin Phoenix is very appealing as firemen Jack Morrison, whose story is the picture.While trapped in a burning building, flashbacks are well used to show his life from the time of his joining the fire department, his meeting with his future wife, his marriage and his heroic deeds.The stalwart ending of the perseverance of firemen, in the face of tragedy, makes this a heartily recommended film..
As his mentor Mike tries to find a way to save him, Jack has Constant flashbacks,that tell us how Jack Morrison (Phoenix) started as a rookie fireman, and mentored by his good friend Mike (Travolta) he becomes the greatest fireman in Baltimore.
I can't tell you how many times during the movie when I thought about how easy it would have been to change jobs had it been me in Jack Morrison's shoes, but I guess that means I don't have the same drive that these firemen have.
I like to think that I have heart and am a good person, I guess I just would have put my family first in such a situation.But there are men and women that are so dedicated to helping other people and saving lives that they will put themselves and their families second, and those are the real heroes that this movie is meant to recognize.
There is a point in the movie where you are sure he is going to be the one hardass fireman that gets in the way of Jack Morrison, the hero, and he does.
But at that point he can either stay a hero and slink away defeated at the end or he can realize what a great man Jack is and come to his side at the end.Well, what actually happens is certainly more one than the other, but it happens in such a way that presents his character as a person, not a movie villain or even a movie character, and that's true of everyone in the film.
Overall a great film, I hope it gets a couple Oscar nods next year!Final Count:Movies: Worth the ticket price in every way!DVD Purchase: Possibly, but it'll mean different things to different people.Rental: Abso-positvely-lutely!.
But that may all come to an end when he's in a fatal situation involving being trapped in a burning building.Everyone did a great job in this film and I really don't understand only a 6.5 rating, I thought it was an honest film with good intentions.
"Ladder 49" is by no means a bad movie and as a matter of fact, it's a professionally made production, with some good actors in it, but it's just that everything in the movie is very formulaic and all the typical clichés you could expect in a movie about firefighters are present here.
"Ladder 49" and "Backdraft" are two similar movies in several ways but "Backdraft" is the better one simply because it has better emotions, character building and sequences featuring fire.
The plot hits on all the tropes and clichés of what the average Joe believes life as a firefighter is really like: they all get drunk, get into fights, have a hard time expressing their emotions, their wives all stay at home crying, they all have father issues, everyone has a Boston accent, et cetera.
You might like the burning buildings and the helicopter shots, but they don't do much in saving the movie.The lead performances(Phoenix and Travolta, in this order) are definitely the best part of the show, but the characters are still flat and inexpressive.What I liked, though, is the "confessional jokes" in the beginning, but it's hard to get a movie through with just one two-scenes joke..
11, 2001, attacks, firefighters have been elevated to mythic status and given the uberpatriotism of a post-9/11 America, it's as if it's our duty to sing the praises of a film like "Ladder 49" no matter how stupefyingly conventional it is.I don't know who's more to blame for this dreadful movie - Russell or Colick?Russell and Colick are so reverential in their treatment of the characters that there isn't an iota of originality or believability about any of them.
Characters lament about "being too old for this s**t;" firemen wonder why people in trouble are always on the 12th floor, not on the fourth; the protagonist and his girl have a meet-cute; we can pick which characters will come to harm because they just happen to joke or say all is OK before something bad happens to them; a victim seemingly doesn't revive during CPR only to cough just when everyone thinks it's too late and, of course, this drivel wouldn't be complete without a climactic freeze-frame.Joaquin Phoenix as Jack Morrison hasn't been this wooden in a movie, while John Travolta's relatively small role relegates to him being an affable dad to all his men.
There's nothing nuanced about any of these people and, frankly, they're all so nice, they're boring.The fire scenes are effectively shot, but Russell and Colick want this film to be about the men and their lives.
Go watch Rescue Me if you want to see real heroes: Everyday guys with flaws that think nothing of running into a burning building to save strangers..
The picture ends with a montage of firefighting scenes that struck me as a collection of outtakes that the director couldn't find any other use for.The best thing about "Ladder 49" is the relationship between Jack and his wife Linda.
People liked this movie a lot because it shows the true heroic actions of firefighters in a post 9/11 world.
Because of this Ladder 49 has generally been seen in a way that makes it better than it really was.Overall the movie was a real bore, looking primarily at the life of Phoenix's character, Jack, as a firefighter.
Sure this is the life of a firefighter, but where is the good movie in all of this?
This film basically try to portray the heroism of firefighters by making the whole movie revolve around a American dad with a good heart that puts others before himself.
Now I know they try to show Jack Morrison(Joaquin Phoenix) as a typical American father that is a firefighter but like there is just nothing interesting in about him what so ever, thus when the movie gets to the climax there is just little to no emotion.
This movie basically tries to make the life of a firefighter exciting but it just comes off as boring as any other jobs except you save lives or property by extinguishing the fire.
What could have been a good film is that the firefighter are put way up as heroes because they are firemen and turns the whole scenario into a uninteresting melodrama.4.9/10.
I feel that this movie deserves a 10 out of 10 because it portrays the life of a firefighter really well not only during or on the job but as well as when the firefighter returns home after work and how his job effects family life,I know this because I am one When the gong goes off in the firehouse and the trucks go tearing down the street with the light on and when you see the smoke coming out of the buildings you can feel the adrenaline and the excitement as if you are really there.Hollywood did a really good job when making this movie.
JOAQUIN PHOENIX and JOHN TRAVOLTA head the cast of this tribute to heroism and the men who risk their lives every day.
And in this post-9/11 world where we remember the men entering the twin buildings that collapsed, this well made film is a nice tribute.Straight-forward in approach, it's a solid piece of story telling when it deals with the working routine and firehouse lifestyle that these men are trained to perform, reminiscent of Ron Howard's BACKDRAFT thirteen years ago.
In the end I really felt for the characters, mainly because the film takes it time to let us know them.The main character is Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix).
This film kind of took me by quite a surprise, as the previews led me to believe that this was just another Travolta flop tending to the few audiences that haven't seen "Backdraft", but Ladder turned out to be a pleasant look into the daily life of a firefighter."Ladder 49" involves Jack Morrison (Phoenix) who is trapped in multi-tiered factory reflecting on life from his first day on the job to this point focusing on his family's ordeals and adjustments on the toll the life of firefighting takes on a family.The story is somewhat predictable, but will still draw you in as the emotions are in full gear as Morrison is somewhat addicted to the adrenaline of rushing into a burning building putting his life at severe risk and the future of his family in jeopardy to save one life.
This movie has given me so much insight into the firefighters job of protecting and saving peoples lives.
"Ladder 49" is all about the crew of firefighters at a Baltimore firehouse, specifically Jack Morrison (Phoenix) whose life provides the backbone for the film.
Phoenix is a actor who is rising I think he will make plenty of good movies in the years to come..
Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) is a family man who wonders whether his new job as a fireman is rewarding enough to make it worth all of the risks.
Ladder 49, directed by Jay Russell, was a truly touching story about what real firefighters face when they go on the job, and how every decision they make effects their friends and family.
Joaquin Phoenix gives a stellar performance, and John Travolta is once again in typical form as this duo propels the movie into the audience's hearts.The movie starts out with our main character, firefighter Jack Morrison (Phoenix), responding to a massive warehouse fire.
I think the best part about this movie was the fact that the lead characters were just like everyday people.
Although Ladder 49 is familiar in its emotional tone and basic story line, it stands up next to movies like Backdraft (1991) and Hellfighters (1968) andmakes them seem somehow less personal.
However, if the audience can ignore this then Ladder 49 is one of the better, more entertaining and certainly more heart wrenching films of the genre.In Ladder 49 the viewer enters the world of a Boston fire department andfollows the career of firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix).
The story is simple, Jack is a firefighter, he learns, gets hurt and sees friends hurt and even die while on the job, all while under the watchful eye of Captain Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), who seems to take Jack under his wing and be personallyresponsible for him.
John Travolta, who usually pulls a bit of star appeal was not much of an attraction to the movie and the rest of the virtually unheard of cast helped to support Phoenix who did most of the real work to make the film entertaining.Ladder 49 is a movie that people should see because it tries to bring back a certain type of classical Hollywood feel by actually telling a story and letting the viewer become attached to the main character.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a very character-driven movie about person who happens to be a firefighter and what it does to the relationship with his wife.While I am not a fireman, the action sequences seemed to have a realistic feel to them.
Let's face it, the person running into the burning building when everyone else is desperately trying to get out is going to be a hero in the eyes of many, and in "Ladder 49," directed by Jay Russell and starring Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta, it is the hero and that sense of heroism that is presented and explored.The film follows the career of fireman Jack Morrison (Phoenix) from his rookie days through the following years as he establishes himself as a veteran of the firehouse, all under the tutelage of Captain Mike Kennedy (Travolta), who is always on hand to listen, question and impart the wisdom of age and experience to Jack, especially at pivotal times in his life.Over a period of time, Jack learns the ropes, develops his firefighting skills, matures and, along the way, learns about life and love.
When he meets an attractive young woman in a grocery store, Linda (Jacinda Barrett), and sparks fly, it isn't hard to figure out where this part of the story is going.Visually, the film is stunning at times: The fires are spectacular, you can fairly feel the heat from the flames, which is bound to instill in one admiration for the firefighters who risk it all in the performance of their duties.
He makes the camaraderie of the firehouse, for instance, an exercise in cliché, while allowing his actors to struggle with the development of their characters.Phoenix gives a passable performance as Jack, but Travolta comes across as an actor playing a role the way he "thinks" it should be played, rather than creating a real identity for Mike, and Russell lets him get away with it.
The movie, save on F-word, was entirely appropriate for families.J. Phoenix did an admirable job in the title role, and the supporting cast, including Travolta, also gave notable performances.
I think this movie is a must see!It seems like a life story to the audience.
It's no wonder that firemen and their families love this film, especially given the way Joaquin Phoenix's character personifies the very best attributes of these men.
Loved the cast in this, especially my number 4 fave actor of all time Joaquin Phoenix who is the main character in this film proby fireman Jack Morrison who after saving a worker from a burning industrial high rise ends up trapped himself and as his team leader Capt.