[REVIEW] Ladder 49
Sep. 7th, 2004 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldI got into the movie theatre just in time to avoid missing the start of Ladder 49 at 7 o'clock this evening. (See the trailer here.) It was an early showing of the film, pre-release; I got into it with a free pass I'd received from my manager at Indigo upon signing the contracts, and after demonstrating that no, I was not carrying any illicit recording devices on my person. I suppose that this will qualify as an inside peek at the movie anyway, since it isn't set to be released until next month.
Ladder 49 isn't the sort of movie I usually watch. The story of Baltimore firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) trapped in a burning warehouse, experiencing flashbacks to earlier moments--his first day on his job, his courting of his wife, further incidents in his personal and professional careers--as he tries to survive. He's aided in this task by his former chief played by John Travolta, present and helpless outside of the burning building. Will Jack Morrison be rescued? Go see the movie and find out.
The entire movie definitely fits into the post-9/11 mold of the firefighter as a quintessential American hero. Indeed, the Americanness and the foreignness of the film is something that impressed me. Ladder 49 draws heavily upon working-class American culture, more specifically a working-class American Catholic culture heavily influenced by Irish culture(claddagh rings, St. Patrick's Day parties at bars) and strongly connected to the firefighting service. The anthropology of the Ladder 49 crew and their culture is fascinating.
Ladder 49 isn't the sort of film I'd go out to see on my own. I certainly wouldn't recommend that people wouldn't go see it, though--it's definitely not in Alien vs. Predator territory, but I think that people who are interested in stories about modern-day heroes would do worse than to go see it.
Ladder 49 isn't the sort of movie I usually watch. The story of Baltimore firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) trapped in a burning warehouse, experiencing flashbacks to earlier moments--his first day on his job, his courting of his wife, further incidents in his personal and professional careers--as he tries to survive. He's aided in this task by his former chief played by John Travolta, present and helpless outside of the burning building. Will Jack Morrison be rescued? Go see the movie and find out.
The entire movie definitely fits into the post-9/11 mold of the firefighter as a quintessential American hero. Indeed, the Americanness and the foreignness of the film is something that impressed me. Ladder 49 draws heavily upon working-class American culture, more specifically a working-class American Catholic culture heavily influenced by Irish culture(claddagh rings, St. Patrick's Day parties at bars) and strongly connected to the firefighting service. The anthropology of the Ladder 49 crew and their culture is fascinating.
Ladder 49 isn't the sort of film I'd go out to see on my own. I certainly wouldn't recommend that people wouldn't go see it, though--it's definitely not in Alien vs. Predator territory, but I think that people who are interested in stories about modern-day heroes would do worse than to go see it.
