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While waiting for a rescue from without, firefighter Jack Morrison, trapped in a burning warehouse with a broken leg, flashes back to various events in his life: the first, awkward days on the force, meeting the woman who would become his wife and saving a small girl from a burning building.
12 April 1945, USA
31 August 1940, Orange, New Jersey, USA
7 January 1970, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
22 January 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA
26 December 1965, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
August 3, 1982 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA
2 August 1972, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
5 November 1958, Marietta, Georgia, USA
10 May 1950, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
March 29, 2011
Except for Jack no one else in the film is very well defined, and it often falls back onto types. The actors are good, and make the best of what they've got, but what they've got is very thin.October 01, 2004
Offers audiences a real rarity in theaters these days: a good, honest cry.October 01, 2004
Even the best scenes feel canned, secondhand, packaged. We've seen this all before.October 06, 2004
A serviceable testament to the firemen who would bravely risk their lives to protect the safety of others, etc., etc.October 01, 2004
The story of Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), a guy so emotionally uncomplicated and unquestioningly dedicated to rescuing people he might have been raised by Saint Bernards.July 25, 2007
It's slick and it honors firefighters as obviously as the first wave of WWII films paid tribute to America's fighting men and women.October 25, 2006
A well-crafted tribute to the many dedicated firefighters who risk life and limb to make our world a little safer.September 24, 2007
A fairly routine firefighter drama, with burning-building sequences that more or less all look alike.December 25, 2010
Unabashed love letter to firefighters everywhere.July 25, 2005
...has about the same amount of depth as an article from 'Boy's Life.'October 01, 2004
Ladder 49 might have been an oversized Hollywood dazzler. Phoenix keeps it firmly and modestly on a human scale.October 01, 2004
An action drama/weepie that's so busy telling us that its characters are heroes, it forgets that they should be people first.