Review 121: Ladder 49

Come in Ladder 49 - your time is up.

Hey, you know something? You know those guys that jump into burning buildings and rescue people? Do you know they happen to be rather brave?

Well, if you did, you can walk away now because you've basically seen the entire point behind "Ladder 49: Firefighters Are So Brave, Aren't They?"

Call me a cynic all you want, but I want the movies I watch to have a little more story than that. Oh, wait - OK. Come back - there IS a story behind Ladder 49 after all. It's just not a very good one.

So, Brave Firefighter Joaquin Phoenix joins up with other Brave Firefighters, and the majority of the movie is centred around them, and the ha-ha-larious "manly" antics they get up to, including an "induction" ceremony that only the most stupid, gullible people in the UNIVERSE would fall for, and throwing beer kegs over one another. 'Cos they're guys, see? And all the while the worst possible fires break out (with no explanation why.. Jeez, you'd think there would be some little fires or cats to rescue from trees or something?) and every time Joaquin's moaning wife's worried face is shown because she's sure he's going to die THIS time.

And that's basically it. The thing is, the characters are so bland and uninspired, the plot so Cut-Out-And-Keep that we can't help but feel we've seen this sort of thing a thousand times before. Its more like a mid-afternoon TV movie than a big budget blockbuster, and having great actors like John Travolta and Robert Patrick in dull co-worker roles is such a waste of their talents that it beggars belief.

Big stars, big money - on a movie that's as exciting as a ladder in a pair of tights. A real waste.