Given the events of 9/11, it would be hard for any movie to celebrate firefighters without being clich?. Likewise, it is hard for a movie to say it is not a clich? if you have them sing karaoke to the song "Fire" by the Ohio Players. Such is the quagmire in which director Jay Russell has left his latest film, "Ladder 49."
A movie of lofty goals and unfulfilled characters, it juxtaposes the firehouse antics and stunningly dangerous fires that have come to define the life of Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix). The movie opens on an extraordinary blaze in a huge factory. Jack has become trapped inside, and on the other side of the radio is his mentor, Mike Kennedy (John Travolta). In the rubble awaiting help, he reflects upon his life up to that point.
"Ladder 49" is unique in a very fundamental way. The goal of most movies is to form an attachment between the main character and the audience so that the conflict of the film transcends the actor and inhabits the audience. But the purpose of "Ladder 49" is to put Jack Morrison up on a pedestal as representative of all courageous firefighters. The entire movie provides reverence for him. Morrison's bravery and willingness to sacrifice is never questioned, which seems to be the litmus test for a hero and leaves him no place to grow.
The main character's crisis, which is the balance between his house and the firehouse, is unrelated to the way the movie judges firefighters. The conflict is resolved by default, and Jack remains emotionally unfulfilling. This could possibly be OK if the movie did not simultaneously insist that he is an ordinary man, which causes a conflict regarding the audience's response to the character. It is impossible to put a main character up on a pedestal and then try to make him relate to the audience.
Predictability is the curse that hangs over any movie that tackles a subject such as this. Within the first 10 minutes, the format, storyline and probable outcome are obvious. A movie does not necessarily need to continuously keep the audience guessing. But the problem born out of such predictability is that the emotion of climactic scenes is sapped if the audience has been waiting for it the entire time. The movie is convincing but the audience does not bother becoming invested.
The film overindulges in lauding firefighters (which included tapping into 9/11 emotion), to the point that they have almost become allegorical. They could do no wrong. The movie, by no means, exaggerated the astounding bravery that firefighters possess, and the genuineness of the acting and interest that the actors obviously have is reflective of this. But audiences knew that going in.
The character who seemed to possess the most complexity was Jack's wife Linda (Jacinda Barrett). She was our outlet to the movie because she did not fight fires and was tied to Jack's fate, as the audience is. If Barrett had failed at her task as a conduit into the movie, the whole thing might have collapsed.
It is easy to like John Travolta, who plays Fire Chief Mike Kennedy and mentor to Jack. He plays a great nice guy, but we are left wanting to know more about him.
The movie's goal was not to highlight unsung heroes - they are no longer that unsung - but to make an accurate portrayal of the life of a firefighter. Given the response of firefighters, it seems as if they have accomplished their goals. But it failed in humanizing them.
