He recalls his initiation into the close-knit, prank-filled, courage-fed band of brothers at the firehouse, and the discovery of his own deeply held compulsion to save lives. Starting with the day he first met then-Captain Kennedy and joined the Baltimore Fire Department, Jack journeys back in time to reveal a gripping account of a hero-in-the-making. As the two men make a desperate last gambit, Jack reflects, moment by moment, year by year, on how he got himself into this predicament. Cut off from all help, Jack fights for survival, while outside his mentor and Fire Chief, Mike Kennedy (JOHN TRAVOLTA), battles to get his best friend out alive. In his zeal to help rescue a trapped civilian, Jack has been swallowed deep inside a warehouse now transformed into a furnace of snarling flames, impenetrable black smoke and collapsing debris. LADDER 49 enters the life of devoted firefighter Jack Morrison (JOAQUIN PHOENIX) as it hangs in the balance. A starkly intimate homage to the everyday sacrifices of firefighters, LADDER 49 also reveals that behind every person who selflessly saves lives are many others who make it possible. It does so by probing one emblematic fireman’s story - from his gonzo drive to join the brotherhood of firefighters and his first encounter with the woman who will become the love of his life to the harrowing shifts that keep him from home, the conflicting emotions that grip him as he starts a family and the bold rescues that are the job’s true reward. Set against a busy Baltimore engine company, the film peers into the private world of a typical urban firehouse and exposes the often hidden human element that lies behind the familiar headlines of firefighters battling furious blazes. I’d rather watch a travesty overflowing with warped personality like Battlefield Earth a dozen times than have to suffer through this nothing-burger of a movie a second time.What does it take to be the man who runs headlong into a burning building when everyone else is trying to get out? LADDER 49 is a moving look at how extraordinary heroes emerge out of ordinary lives, relationships and dreams.
Ladder 49 isn’t bad so much as hopelessly dull. I’m not going to lie: I got a little choked up at the end of Ladder 49, a movie whose ostensible lack of cynicism struck me as fairly cynical. Phoenix is unmistakably the star here but Travolta gets his big moment to ACT when he delivers a eulogy for his late friend that doubles as a sincere valentine to the entire profession of fire-fighting. This mostly adequate basic cable fare relegates Travolta to a secondary role as the supportive and compassionate mentor. Then again Ladder 49 plucks shamelessly at the heartstrings in its final act and it’s a lot easier to get people choked up and teary about a handsome hero who dies way too young than a guy who almost dies. Ladder 49 struck me as so timid and bland that I was legitimately surprised that (SPOILER) our protagonist does not, in fact, survive, despite having seen and reviewed the movie during its theatrical release. In its superior second half Ladder 49 grapples forthrightly with the tricky reality that the heroism, courage and selflessness that makes Linda love and admire her hero husband are also the qualities that make it horrifyingly possible that he will die a fiery, awful death in the line of duty. The Academy Award winner is so utterly riveting playing tormented loners and losers who are profoundly fucked in the head-with the notable exception of his abysmal turn in Joker-that it seems perverse to cast him as a normal guy who just wants to be there for his wife and children and make a positive impact on society.
Ladder 49 accomplishes the seemingly impossible feat of making Joaquin Phoenix boring. Even more than Phenomenon, this is some straight down the middle, VH-1, Dad Afternoon bullshit. Read previous entries in the column here, listen to the podcast here, pledge to the Travolta/Cage Patreon at this blessed web address and finally follow us on Twitter at įor John Travolta, the 2004 firefighter melodrama Ladder 49 was an uninspired choice but more than anything it’s a boring choice.
Cast of movie ladder 49 series#
The Travolta/Cage Project is an ambitious, years-long multi-media exploration of the fascinating, overlapping legacies of Face/Off stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage with two components: this online column exploring the actor’s complete filmographies in chronological order and the Travolta/Cage podcast, where Clint Worthington, myself and a series of fascinating guests discuss the movies I write about here.