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It’s refreshing to see a movie with so much faith and values.THERE ARE real firefighters in the world who regularly perform heroic deeds. On the other side, Jack gets into a fight with a firefighter who is cheating on his wife, and the movie clearly stands up for integrity, truth, justice, courage, valor, and sacrificing one’s life for others. Of course, these are part of the human condition. Also, one of the firefighters spoofs homosexuality. Some of the cautions are the foul language and the premarital escapade between Jack and Linda, which leads to their marriage. The dialogue is highly realistic, and the human moments are touching. The suspense and fear factor at points is very intense. You can’t blame a critic for giving a spoiler when the spoiler is given at the beginning of the film.Įven so, LADDER 49 works on many levels. The flashback devices forecast the end from the beginning, and therefore pull the punch of what could have been a very powerful ending.
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However, the movie would have been better served by a straight-ahead plot. And, there are a lot of references to faith and Jesus. It helps us understand their faith and the fears of their families. It shows the sacrifice they make for others. The movie makes clear why these men are heroes. It shows the camaraderie of the firemen and their Catholic faith, which pulls them together at funerals, weddings, and baptisms. The movie develops tales of valor and poignant moments of concern on the parts of families. Her concerns make Jack’s present situation even more poignant and emotive. Linda, however, is deeply concerned about Jack’s firefighting career, and this concern increases as they have children. After a brief tryst, they are married in a beautiful church wedding. Soon, in his flashbacks, he meets the girl of his dreams, Linda. Since almost all of the firefighters are Catholics, they pretend to have a Catholic priest give him confession, and they nail him on his lax attitude about sex. On his first day as a rookie, Jack comes into the firehouse and is immediately hazed in some very humorous scenes.
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Fire chief Mike Kennedy, played by John Travolta, re-deploys the firemen to rescue Jack.Īs Jack lies in a heap of concrete and destruction, his past flashes before his eyes, and so most of the movie takes place in flashbacks. After Jack performs a heroic rescue lowering a man to a ladder far below, the floor collapses underneath him, and Jack falls two stories. One of the rescuers is Jack Morrison, played with great realism by Joaquin Phoenix. The audience is soon informed that the gas from the grain will blow at any instant.Ī rescue team is sent into the building to retrieve a few people on the 12th floor. The movie opens as they attempt to fight a tremendous out of control fire in a grain elevator building. LADDER 49 is the ladder company of Firehouse 33 in Baltimore, Maryland. It could have been a great movie, but the attempt to pay homage to firefighters becomes slightly too cloying and tendentious at points. LADDER 49 is a bighearted, entertaining, and poignant movie. A movie with so much faith and values is refreshing. In the midst of a movie that contains a lot of references to faith and Jesus, some of the cautions are the foul language and the implied premarital escapade between Jack and Linda, which leads to their marriage. It helps us understand the fears of their families. LADDER 49 makes clear why these men are heroes and shows the sacrifices they make. It shows the camaraderie of the firemen and their Catholic faith, which pulls them together. The fire chief played by John Travolta deploys the firemen to rescue Jack. A rescue team is sent in to save a few people, and one of the rescuers, Jack, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falls two stories through the floor after performing a heroic rescue. It opens as firefighters beat back a tremendous blaze in a grain elevator building where the gas from the grain is about to blow. LADDER 49 is a bighearted, entertaining, poignant movie.