#MOVIE LADDER 49 BASED TRUE STORY MOVIE#
#MOVIE LADDER 49 BASED TRUE STORY SERIES#

In presenting Jack's rookie days, Phoenix and director Jay Russell avoid the twin movie cliches of cockiness and super-ingenuousness.

#MOVIE LADDER 49 BASED TRUE STORY SERIES#

From there, the movie reveals its structure, as a series of flashbacks from the point of view of Jack, who, during a lull in this crisis, finds himself reflecting back on his career. Watching the opening, it may take a minute to get one's bearings, but it's an exhilarating introduction. 'Ladder 49' throws the audience right into a major blaze at the start, with the firefighters - including Jack - combing a high-rise for people to rescue, only minutes before the building is sure to collapse. For the emotional moments, he can only rely on the bag of tricks, the stock Travolta gesture - the blinking, nodding and pressing his lips together to indicate deep feeling. Out of place, without the first idea who this fellow is, Travolta seems unsure whether to contain his exuberance or withhold it. But there he is, giving off movie-star wattage, too much of a rebel to play a conformist, too much of an oddball to seem like a team player and too much of a restless personality for anyone to believe he'd be anything other than bored stiff hanging out with the same guys, day in and day out for years on end. Of course, it's always nice to see Travolta. The result is that 'Ladder 49' plays like a war movie made in a time of war: too careful, too programmatic. In its determination to create a tribute, the filmmakers smooth too many edges and simplify too many complex emotions. Firehouse high jinks are nothing but jolly and delightful.ДЄ comrade's death is sad, but not ultimately unsettling. A firefighter's family life is presented as next-door to idyllic. 'Ladder 49' is a movie almost entirely without conflict, at least of the human variety. No movie in recent years, at least in this decade, has so convincingly conveyed what it's like to walk into a building and face wall-to-wall flames.Д«y the time the movie is over, a viewer comes away not only appreciating what firefighters do but understanding, at least in a limited way, various rescue techniques and the challenges presented by different kinds of fires.Д«ut the movie's reverence gradually works to undermine it.

'Ladder 49' has just one aspiration behind it - to be a celebration of firefighters.

Movie ladder 49 based true story