A film review by Craig J. Koban
LADDER 49
½
Jack Morrison: Joaquin Phoenix / Chief Mike Kennedy:John Travolta
/ Linda
Morrison: Jacinda Barrett / Tommy Drake: Morris Chestnut / Don Miller: Kevin Daniels
/ Lenny Richter: Robert Patrick / Dennis Gauquin: Billy Burke
/ Ray Gauquin: Balthazar Getty
Directed by Jay Russell / Written by Lewis Colick
I think that, behind police
officers, firefighting is unquestionably the least appreciated
profession. Sure, as a kid, many of us might have thought it would have
most certainly been rather adventurous and cool to be a fireman battling
towering infernos. However, as we
get older and our somewhat mature and astute hindsight kicks in, we probably
begin to realize that firefighting may (a) be kind of dangerous and (b) that
being a firefighter ranges vaguely between either being very courageous or very
crazy. Nevertheless, the role of
these professionals obviously has a fairly cherished spot in the minds of most
civilians (I mean, really, in our world void of spandex clad super heroes, they
are our closest approximation).
It’s
kind of amazing that more films have not paid attention to this enormously
significant profession. Ron
Howard’s visually opulent BACKDRAFT viscerally put us in the heart of the
dangers of firefighting, plunging us head-on into the deadly job of battling
with the elements. Yet, that film
served more as a standard action picture that lacked real heart in investing
emotionally with its characters, who were too busy being occupied with one of
those all-too-familiar dramatic melodramas. The real surprise of Jay Russell’s new film - LADDER 49 -
is that it carefully let’s the action scenes take a backseat to the
characters. That’s a bold and
daring move, considering my expectations of this film.
The film is less interested in wowing us with gritty action scenes and
more interested in the men behind the fires.
That, in itself, is intrinsically more appealing then watching endless
scenes of fires.
The film stars Joaquin Phoenix (always dependable and under-appreciated in his time) as Jack Morrison, a young fireman that is primarily assigned to search and rescue helpless victims. John Travolta, in the smaller supporting role, plays Jack’s mentor and chief, Kennedy. In an interesting narrative move, LADDER 49 begins by introducing us to these characters in a large action set piece and then later introduces us to them and reveals their past history.
As the film opens Jack, a member of
the Baltimore City Fire Department’s Engine 33, enters a warehouse that is
engulfed in flames. People are
stranded on the highest levels of the building, which looks poised to explode at
any given moment. Jack and his
team, while entering the deadly fire and searching the building, discover a lone
survivor on the twelve floor (which, as the film wisely shows us, is way to high
to be reached by any ladder). Jack,
being a man blind is his courage, helps the man by gently lowering him down to a
safer floor with a utility rope. Unfortunately
for our hero, the building gets rocked by explosions and falls through the floor
and lands several floors below in a heap of rubble. When he finally comes to he radios to Kennedy, who in
turn tries to quickly organize a rescue of Jack before it's too late.
There is only a very small amount of time, it seems, to get Jack out of
the building before it completely gets engulfed by the flames that is quickly
destroying it.
Interestingly, the film does not
follow through on a linear plot, but instead immediately flashes back to
Jack’s very first day in the department as a young and naïve rookie.
This ostensibly establishes the formula for the rest of the film, as it
intercuts back and forth between the present danger of Jack being trapped in the
burning building and his life as a firefighter leading up to that point.
It is, at first, a bit jarring and seemingly disorganized way to tell the
story, but as the film progresses we get more comfortable with the film’s
overall structure and easily begin to settle in with the story of Jack’s life.
Yes, there are sensational scenes of fires that are largely convincing
(none of which are as a visually arresting as the ones in BACKDRAFT).
However, this picture is not an action film and, it could be legitimately
argued, is not really about fighting fires at all.
It’s really a inquisitive, sensitive, and surprisingly introspective
and touching story of one man’s life and the choices he makes along the way
that dictates his decisions to be a firefighter.
The film is so sincere with its flashbacks that it almost takes on a
loose, documentary flavour.
There is nothing altogether fresh
and original about the film in terms of its story.
Much of it seems like standard material for this type of picture.
We see Jack (through intercutted flashbacks) visit the fire hall on his
first day and meet the ragtag group of fellow firemen, who place a humorous
practical joke on him his first day (which, later pays off in a wonderfully
funny moment, when they try to pull the same joke on a new rookie years later).
After the initial awkwardness of his new surroundings, Jack more or less
finds his grove and actually becomes very adept at his job and establishes a
great bond with his colleagues. They
work together, talk together, drink together, and go to the grocery store and
try to pick up women together. One of the women that Jack meets at the super market is Linda
(Jacinda Barrett) who, of course, very quickly becomes his wife and later has
children with him. Linda, as many
stock wives in these types of films do, worries incessantly about her husband
and his dangerous work, and dreads the day where the chief will pull up to her
house in his red chief’s car to tell her the terrible news of his death (the
direct comparison to General’s coming to soldier’s wives’ homes after
combat seems kind of analogous).
The film feels strongly routine by
its plot, but it felt fresh and strong throughout.
There is nothing relatively new to the story, but it felt unique in terms
of its tone and the way Russell handles the material and characters in terms of
its tone. This is not a glorified
look at firefighting, nor is it one of those dumb-downed procedurals where the
firefighters are on the hunt for a crazy, whacked out pyromaniac who must be
stopped before he gets churns out his next mission. Rather, LADDER 49 takes great prides and strides at
humanizing its story and making us invest in its characters. Their lives don’t seem all that revealing, and many of the
things that occur in the film we have seen a thousand times before, but the film
has a leisurely and effortless approach at simply showing us these men, who they
are, and what they tirelessly do. There
are no grand scenes of revelations, no gigantic set pieces set off with a
ridiculously hyped up soundtrack with booming music. The film is so refreshingly sparse and minimalist, even its
characters say two words where lesser films would have their characters rant on
endlessly. There is a great moment
when Jack and Linda, on their first date, talk about his job.
Jack seems kind of surprised by how much investment Linda has in the type
of work he does. After she continually asks him how he does his job day after
day, he just modestly shrugs and responds, “It’s a job.”
Many of the characters come across
very convincingly, despite being trapped in a rather conventional story. Joaquin Phoenix is the real winner of the film, and he gives
his character so much emotional weight and vulnerability. The film really rests on his shoulders and he’s equal to
the task. He has really emerged as
one of Hollywood’s finest young actors and has always turned out great work in
even moderately successful films (this year's THE VILLAGE may not have worked,
but he was a successful piece of it). If
anything, Phoenix is fantastic at playing quiet, shy, inhibited men who, when
action is necessary, is capable of doing great things.
It’s sort of amazing – he’s completely timid and reserved when he
has his first date with Linda, but when it comes to swinging down a ten story
building on a rope to save a man from a burning building, he brings a
forcefulness and strength to the character.
Phoenix’s fireman in LADDER 49 feels more real and grounded then any of
the men from BACKDRAFT.
The rest of the supporting cast does an equally fine job with their characters. There’s Robert Patrick in another good small supporting role, and Jacinda Barrett is quiet appealing as her role of the troubled Linda. She is not simply one of those embittered and emotionally unstable firemen’s wives whose only purpose in the film is to worry and complain. Yes, she does that, but she also has moments of reflection and tenderness with her husband that other films would not have patience for. Their marriage feels more real than it does feels like a Hollywood contrivance.
Out of all the cast, the small role of Travolta’s seems the
trickiest, if not the most
complicated. He is essentially
playing that standard stock chief/authority figure character that has been
played countless times, but here Travolta does something special – he does not
just play the man as a rough figurehead, but more of a glorified father figure
who actually cares about his men. The
screenplay spares us of endless scenes of Kennedy yelling at his men for their
mistakes and ineptitude. Rather, he
kind of plays the role with humility and softness and celebrates the men’s
victories as well as their failures. He’s
not one of those characters who force his men to take things on that they are
not capable of. In one terrifically
realized moment, he offers Jack an easier desk job that may take him away from
the danger of his current assignment. Jack
refuses and decides to stay in his current position.
Why? Well, not because he
thinks it's safe or because of any moral and civic responsibility.
He stays because that’s what he does and his has a level of
determination, pride, and sense of camaraderie with his job.
He does it because he wants to, not because he has to.
I think that’s what makes LADDER 49 really stand out and shine. It’s a film about firefighters without very much time spent on the actual firefighting itself. Much like an early release of 2004, the wonderful hockey film MIRACLE, LADDER 49 feels more confident and comfortable telling the story of the men behind the scenes and seems less interested in spectacle. It’s not a picture of glorified action set pieces. This film solidifies itself in the emphasis it places on the undying bravery and will of its characters and how they are compelled, time and time again, to make decisions that could very well cost them their lives. The film is not so much exciting and fast-paced as it was tender, sweet, sad, sensitive, and patient with telling its human story. It’s about the men who do this job, what makes them tick, and how they got to where they are. If LADDER 49 were a superhero film, it would reveal itself as being more interested in the Clark Kent’s of its world and less involved in the “supermen” that occupy it. It’s one of the nicer surprises of the fall so far, one in which the men are the focus are not the raging fires themselves.
