Posted: 10/3/2004 1:07:36 PM EDT
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Took the wife and kids to it, it's only the 2nd time in 6 years we have been to a first run movie. Excellent movie, 2 thumbs up. Without giving anything away, it makes backdraft look like a kiddy cartoon & the only thing they had in common is fire trucks. Trovolta is good (and I really do not like him at all & would rather skip a movie he is in than watch it) but the story it tells is excellent. Don't miss this flick 
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I got to see some of it being filmed. Also, my employer has an optical data system in Peter Angelo's (Baltimore Oriole's owner) law office, and one day after I did some work there I rode the elevator down to the lobby - when the door opened there was Travolta and his entourage waiting to enter the elevator. I just walked by like he was anyone else but the lobby was full of fans trying to get autographs. I may go see it at the theater, but more likely will catch it on HBO or DVD. |
Well duh, he's not the main actor, it's not about him it's not his story now is it. Don't know what kind of movies you like, but this one is not boring at all but if you like mind numbing brain dead shootemups & horror movies then you would not like this as it makes you think & feel. |
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Here is a trailer to Ladder 49: www.imdb.com/title/tt0349710/trailers |
I was a Firefighter /EMT and it is pretty accurate. They did damn good for Hollywood. There are some parts where they do a rope pick off on a high rise that seems a little hokie. But I worked in an area with buildings no higher then 5 stories, we had some high towers but no really tall occupied structures. So that may have been good technique. The part where everyone was carrying a forced entry tool was dead on too, at least in my former department. There are some parts where they are doing some stupid shit like not wearing there SCBA when looking for hot spots on a roof and not wearing the SCBA when checking for smoke in the industrial building. And in the first part of the movie when one of the truckies is not wearing his nomex balcalva. All of these things are really done by complacent firemen and contribute to injury and death. The end part where the last firefighter in the movie to die get killed is right on for how firefighters get killed in a fire. In incidents where FF get traped and disoriented a lot of times you cant get to them before there bottle runs out or they get burned. Structural collapse gets a lot of firemen, and large open buildings are bad mojo. In a residental structure you stick to the wall and can find your way around but big open buildings you have to get off the wall to do a search and when you get your hand off the wall you can get lost. Especially if you are a truckie without a hose or a tagline. The noise was about right, but the PASS alarms are a bit louder. But you can't hear shit in a fire but the fire and your damn SCBA. I liked it, I teared a little. The funeral scences reminded me of burying one of our guys. |
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Backdraft was ok - never been to a fire that I had that good of a visibility at yet. And I've never seen anybody go on a roof or inside a building like the one at the end, especially a "hazardous materials fire box" or WTH it was rung out as. Surround and drown, baby. If "Engine 67" (the Victor L. Schlaeger fire boat) is working, then all bets are off. Grab some pound cake and coffee and sit on the deuce and a half.. it's gonna be a long night.
Actually, Tom Brennan (former FDNY Rescue 3(?)) used to insist his guys not work on roofs with packs - he claimed that they made you too top-heavy and made you more likely to fall d/t high center of gravity. Many Depts. have this belief. We were taught this at the academy. BTW, haven't seen the flick yet. Plan to this week, if I get some $. |
Just saw it. Glad I had the pre-warning about the tears, but it really doesn't take much for me to start sobbing like a wee ittle baby  I guess I don't need to worry about saying anything that would spoil the ending  It was worth the 8 bucks I paid to see it. I thought they rushed the relationship part of it, but they had to cover a lot of ground so you can take what they offer there. Also, not enough action!!! Some of the fluff could have been cut out and more heart pumping action added in. The action shots seemed rushed as well...John Travolta's character was perfect for him. Kind of a fatherly/mentor role. It wouldn't have been as good to have a super popular actor playing the lead role. One last thing, more shots of the firemen BEFORE they are fully suited, and throw in a shower shot for the ladies next time PLEASE! 
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Thats interesting. My department had us wearing SCBA's during everything. Even overhauling a building. Shit I even had to wear SCBA's on car fires. I was a Voulnteer with Chesterfield County Fire Department, actaully with Enon Voulnteer Fire Department which was part of CFD. And CFD was damn safety conciouses and kept us in the best and newest equipment. It was a good department. All voulnteers had to go through a 6 month school. Mondays and Wendsdays for 4 hours in class and every Saturday for 8 + hours we did practical training. Then every other weekend it was Saturday and Sunday for 8+. It was a good school. I cover Fire Fighting, Hazmat Awareness and Operations, Vehical Extrication, Confined Space Rescue, Trench and Structural Collapse, and Rope Rescue. It was a damn good program. Then we had to get our EMT-B within a year. Now I live in TN and all the voulnteer departmetns are run by Bubba Ho Tep and the Good Ole Boys. And TN doesn't even have an EMT-B rating. They have EMT-IV which only does IV therapy but no Intebation. I thought it was ABC, Airway Breathing Circulatioin. It seems as if in TN they put the C first. |
I guess it just wasnt my kind of movie? I almost walked out early because it just didnt interest me. |
Personally I can't stand travolta & would rather have my teeth pulled for fun than watch a movie he's in. However, this was a case of where his charachter was not the main one & more of a supporting role. I'm thinking about going to see it again it was so good! |