Wavering between overwrought and boring "Ladder 49" is much more of a character study than "Backdraft". (The comparison seems inevitable.) Ron Howard's film has much more action - and more importantly - more interesting characters. I can't speak to the accuracy of what is depicted since I know almost nothing about firefighting. But one thing bothered me. When Jack is injured early in the film he falls quite a distance (at least several stories) onto a debris pile below. He radios in that he is "busted up". How then can he crawl over to a brick wall and knock a hole through it? I understand the plot point here. But my suspension of dis-belief only carries so far. That aside this movie is a nice tribute to firefighters.
