Travolta, Phoenix light up the screen in 'Ladder 49'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

LADDER 49 (PG-13) Three-and-a-Half Stars (Good-to-Excellent) As surely as the firefighters in Ladder 49 want to put out blazes, this film about their lives wants to pay homage to their bravery and heart. John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix co-star for director Jay Russell. Touchstone, 115 minutes.

Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta co-star as firefighters in a Baltimore firehouse who go to work each day to face profound ups and downs — from day-to-day dullness to exhilarating action and frightening terror. And their lives revolve around the unpredictable ding-ding-ding of a fire bell.

As the film opens, firefighter Jack Morrison (Phoenix) is battling a major warehouse fire with others in his crew. When a floor caves in, Morrison is trapped and injured — and in a difficult place to reach. While he's awaiting the hoped-for rescue, he thinks back over his career.

And that's when "Ladder 49" begins in earnest. And that's the right word; Ladder 49 is a most earnest film, projecting an uncommon decency and courage among its characters that'll impress most viewers, save for the more cynical among them.

Jack recalls his first day on the job — and the pranks that soon enfold him in the camaraderie of the fire hall. Like other newcomers, he's taken under the wing of the Ladder 49 commander, Mike Kennedy (Travolta), and develops strong bonds with fellow firefighters (Morris Chestnut, Robert Patrick, Balthazar Getty, Billy Burke and Kevin Chapman).

He also meets Linda (Jacinda Barrett), falls in love, gets married and has a family — all displayed through the compressed flashbacks of the injured firefighter. Meanwhile, Kennedy climbs through the fire department ranks to chief but maintains his paternal interest in Jack and the other Ladder 49 crew.

Though the family and friendship scenes give "Ladder 49" its emotional resonance, several intense firefighting sequences generate the energy and tension. Firefighters tell you blinding smoke is more the enemy than flames — but it's not especially cinematic. Thus flames rule the day in "Ladder 49," and are created on screen with a stunning realism that nearly creates heat in the theater.

Director Jay Russell and cinematographer James L. Carter previously worked together on smaller films — "My Dog Skip" and "Tuck Everlasting" — but capably handle the much larger parameters of this challenging and oft-enflamed project. Superbly designed surround sound also helps place audiences within the conflagrations.

Travolta lends his smaller role authority, and graciously lets Phoenix carry the picture as Jack. The younger actor brings a comfortable, everyman quality to Jack — even if he's an everyman who is willing to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out.

Rated PG-13, firefighting intensity, violence, profanity.