Clichéd ‘Ladder 49’ has few sparks

Firefighting would seem to be a naturally cinematic subject. Indeed, one of the earliest narrative films was Edwin S. Porter’s six-minute documentary, “The Life of an American Fireman” (1903).

Porter’s title could just as easily be used for “Ladder 49,” a rather stolid new drama that follows a rugged Baltimore fireman, Jack Morrison (played by Joaquin Phoenix), as he gets involved in various firefighting situations. He dangles from a rope, kicks through glass, defies overwhelming smoke and flames, and saves strangers while watching helplessly as co-workers are devoured by fire.

Quick facts Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta, Jacinda Barrett, Billy Burke, Jay Hernandez Director: Jay Russell Run time: 1 hour, 55 minutes MPAA rating: PG-13

More than one funeral service is held, and the tributes and tears flow freely. Unfortunately, Jack and his friends and family are so poorly defined that it’s difficult for an audience to share in their grief. The screenwriter, Lewis Colick, who has done much better work (“October Sky,” “Unlawful Entry”), appears to have assembled the script from a checklist of clichés.

Will the firemen create an initiation rite that humiliates each rookie? Check. Will they all gather at the local pub for drinking and brawling contests? Check. Will Jack’s wife (Jacinda Barrett) nag him ruthlessly about how dangerous his job is? Check. Will his child plead with him not to risk his life in another fire? Check again.

Surely much of this is based on research, but couldn’t it have been handled in a more interesting way? Phoenix works hard to convey devotion to his wife, kids and job, yet he still seems stupefyingly ordinary. John Travolta’s surprisingly peripheral role, as Jack’s boisterous mentor, is just as one-dimensional.

There is one startling moment, after one of Jack’s fellow firemen has fallen, when another fireman (Robert Patrick) claims that he died because he wasn’t paying attention (which could be true), and Jack and his friends react violently. Yet the scene just ends, to be followed by another scene that doesn’t build to anything or build on what’s come before.

The result is a movie that has almost no structure or momentum. To create some sense of drama, the script strands Jack in a burning building while he flashes back to his rookie days, his marriage, the birth of his first child, the death of his best friend. These, too, play like a checklist.

The director, Jay Russell, who won some praise for overcoming the sentimentality built into “My Dog Skip” and “Tuck Everlasting,” fails to do so here, though he does an effective job with the action scenes. When the firemen charge upstairs in a burning building, they run into dozens of rats who are just as determined to make it downstairs. The fires often seem so overwhelming, so far beyond human control, that the job of battling them seems to require super-human courage and survival skills.

Although it inevitably carries echoes of 9/11, “Ladder 49” has so little personality of its own that it can’t help but evoke nostalgia for “Backdraft” and “The Towering Inferno.” While it’s not as incoherent as the former or as padded as the latter, it lacks the trashy exuberance of those movies.

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