If you did not like Backdraft, but wanted to, then this is certainly the movie for you. Then again, I don’t think there is anyone that could watch Ladder 49 and not become completely enthralled with this film and its characters.
Ladder 49 throws you into the flames with the firemen in firehouse, Ladder 49. Told in a staggered series of real-time and flashbacks the movie starts you off with Jack Morrison (Phoenix), a fireman in Ladder 49, as he and his fellow firemen take on a monstrous blaze. The only problem this time is that once the building is clear Jack becomes trapped, and in a drastic role reversal he finds himself as the helpless victim.
As the movie bounces in and out of Jack’s peril you are introduced to the lives of the men and women of Jack’s life, the men that make up the firehouse and his wife (Jacinda Barrett), leading you up to one of the greatest movie endings I have seen in a while.
Once you get over the spectacular sound and special effects you realize that Ladder 49 just goes on to prove that Joaquin Phoenix is a talent due for an Oscar if he could only get the push actors such as Jude Law and Sean Penn have been receiving. Phoenix was one of the only bright spots in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village and here he carries the whole bag of emotions.
Another bright spot in the film is Morris Chestnut, who didn’t really get much of a chance at “acting” in this year’s Anacondas, but makes up for all that here with a powerful performance and one that may be able to help push his career back where it belongs.
Ladder 49 is a movie about people, and by people I mean real people. While the drama is emphasized and the emotions run high, the level of realism seems so high that this movie never seemed over the top to me, not for a second.
With a film like this there are so many things the storytellers could have done to ruin all the dramatic appeal it has, but those pitfalls were avoided and what you are left with is a movie that doesn’t exactly glorify firefighters but does put you in a position of respect for those that put their lives on the line to save others.
Go see Ladder 49, you won’t regret it.
