Directed by: Jay Russell

Produced by: Casey Silver, Chris Salvaterra, Whitney Green

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense fire and rescue situations, and for language.

Genre: Drama

Time: 1 hr. 55 min.

Distributor: Touchstone Pictures

The film "Ladder 49" starts off with a gigantic fire in a building and the men of Ladder 49 entering the scene without worrying about their lives. At this point we meet a veteran firefighter named Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) who re-enters the building to rescue an unknown third victim, the room explodes in a huge fireball and Jack gets stuck in the fire. He waits for the rest of his team members, led by fire captain Mike Kennedy (John Travolta), to find and rescue him.

The film flashes back his 10 years of journey as a firefighter. It takes us from his first day as a firefighter and his first fire experiencing many practical jokes, where we quickly find that he is in a house of pranksters who are very loyal to their job, then the day that his job accidentally leads him to his future wife. Jack and his wife go through all the hardship, tragedy and tribulation together which results from such a life threatening job he has. Jack also thinks about his brotherly firefighters who have always with him in his ups and downs. The relationship between Jack and his wife, Linda (Jacinda Barrett), from their courtship days to the tensions of parenthood when she is few months pregnant, is showed in an understated and altogether believable way.

This movie has one amazing ending. It is so hard to believe that the director was showing all the stuff to bring us at the end which is an amazingly shocking. The movie focuses on life of a firefighter and dangers associated with their job. The film certainly has emotions and element of love. It would not been wrong to call this a romantic-action movie.

This movie is which a must see by those who sleep at time soundly, those have been saved by a firefighter, those whose loved once life is saved by a firefighter, or anyone who appreciates the hard life a fire fighter leads to give all of us a comfortable day. It is a movie about real people doing real job which may cost their lives. It is a story about firemen whom we see entering a building covered with flames while others are leaving it. It is a good movie which leaves you thoughtful at the end.