John Travolta turns in the least interesting performance of his career in the role of the squad’s chief.
SONGS FROM MOVIE LADDER 49 SERIES
Life at the station house is presented as an endless series of pranks and high jinks. Don’t even think about going anywhere near this picture if you’re diabetic.
The rest of the movie is divided between the desperate efforts of his buddies to rescue him and flashbacks tracking his evolution from freshfaced rookie to seasoned ace a family man. No sooner has he located a victim and lowered him to safety than the floor beneath him gives way sending him plummeting several levels into a pit of cement boulders and twisted metal. He plays a Baltimore fireman whose unit rushes into a burning warehouse in the picture’s opening scene. Joaquin Phoenix, who earlier this year gave “The Village” most of what little dramatic credibility it had, is powerless to redeem this pandering three hankie hokum. As written by Lewis Colick and directed by Jay (“Tuck Everlasting”) Russell, the movie is shameless to a degree that borders on the offensive. It was worse than I ever could have imagined.
Many movies have been made about blazes and the men who battle them but “Ladder 49” is the first made since the terrorist attacks and, prior to seeing it, I couldn’t help but wonder whether it would offer a thoughtful, convincing portrait of the lifestyle or simply exploit the nation’s newfound appreciation of the people who elect to live it. Overnight they became the homefront equivalent of war heroes. On September 11th, the sacrifices and courageous actions of New York firefighters elevated the profession in the hearts and minds of their countrymen.
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