Dir. Jay Russell, 2004, USA, 115 mins
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta, Jacinda Barrett, Morris Chestnut, Robert Patrick, Balthazar Getty
Centring on the life of fire fighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), Ladder 49 is a well-intentioned film that reflects the public's admiration and respect for fire fighters, (especially in America, where fire-fighters were viewed more heroically than ever because of 9/11). However, good intentions don't automatically lead to good films, as is the case with Ladder 49. This is a somewhat clichéd, heavy-handed and manipulative drama that holds few surprises in its running time, and offers even fewer revelations about fire fighting as a job and a way of life.
The film begins with Jack entering a burning warehouse in an attempt to rescue someone trapped inside. Although Jack is successful in his rescue, he becomes trapped in the warehouse and the flames are rapidly consuming the building. His fire fighting colleagues, who are coordinated by Fire Chief Kennedy (John Travolta), enter the building in an effort to save Jack. While they struggle to reach him, Jack looks back on his life and career since he joined the Fire Department, starting with his first day on the job when he met his colleagues, to his first encounter with Linda (Jacinda Barrett), his future wife. Jack also remembers the fires that he had to help put out, and the effect that his job had on his personal life.
Despite the elaborate pyrotechnics and special effects on display in the large-scale fire fighting sequences, the most effective moments in the action scenes are simpler ones, achieved with camera placement and editing, as when we see the world from Phoenix's point of view as he slides down a fireman's pole during his first day on the job. Also successful is the jagged, disjointed editing used in a later scene, as Phoenix searches for someone in a burning house. The jarring edits in this scene reflect the chaotic events unfolding around Jack and mirror his battered senses as he desperately tries to navigate himself around a building engulfed in smoke and fire.
Less effective are many of the major incidents that we see in flashback of Jack's life as a fire fighter. Although these are major turning points in Jack's life - his courting of Linda, his making friends with the fire-fighters, the loss of other friends, his starting a family - all the developments are predictable and often uninvolving. How would a fire-fighter tell his children about the dangers of his job, without revealing that it's possible that he could be seriously injured or loose his life one day? How does a wife cope with living with someone like that, who they admire for their dedication to a job, but who are also terrified that the same job will take their spouse away from them? These are all interesting questions that the film touches on briefly in one or two scenes, but they are not really explored in any great death.
Some of the other fire fighters that Jack works alongside are intriguing characters, but we barely get to know them in the course of the film. Presumably this is because the film is sticking rigidly to Jack's point of view in the flashbacks (because we are only seeing their story through his eyes), but it would have interesting to see more of Jack's interaction with them. One of the character's who has great dramatic potential is a dislikeable fireman played by Robert Patrick, who resents Jack's presence in the fire fighting team. The contradictions of such a person - who we admire for putting his life at risk for helping others, but who also elicits anger from us for behaving like an uncaring oaf - are never explored for their dramatic potential and Patrick's character is soon redeemed in Jack's and the audience's eyes. This would have been a particularly fascinating dynamic to explore in a fire-fighting context, where teamwork amongst fire-fighters is crucial to the success of their work, and even their survival.
Performance wise, Phoenix has to shoulder the bulk of the film and he pulls off the task very well. He is convincing as an ordinary man who frequently finds himself in an extraordinary situation and his quiet intensity is perfectly suited the role. Jack is a man who does a dangerous, out of the ordinary job, but he is also an unassuming, quiet man who is committed to his family. Travolta's role in the film is a curious one though. It's not that he's bad - he's not. It's just that it feels as though there should be more of his character than there is, particularly as he's the man that Jack and the other fire-fighters are supposed to look up to. The other fire-fighters are all played by good performers and their camaraderie is amusing, but bar one or two characters, most of their stories are never developed or simply abandoned altogether. When one of the fire fighters (played by Morris Chestnut) is badly injured, the story of his mental and physical injury and recovery could have made for a gripping and moving piece of drama. But after one scene with Jack, his character is never seen again.
Jack's life may be a turbulent one, but in the end, whatever the triumphs and tragedies that are featured, it's a tidier story that is a little too neatly wrapped up. Although more low-key and less sensational than the blockbuster-like Backdraft, an earlier big budget movie centred on fire-fighters, this still plays like a safe Hollywood melodrama that does not explore the life and work of its characters in too much detail. Despite the good intentions that are no doubt behind the film, the result is an underwhelming piece of drama. You may well be left with the nagging feeling that an opportunity to put a realistic story about fire fighters on screen has been missed.
Martyn Bamber
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