Okay, this is full of clichés. Nothing original. You know what you're going to see from the beginning. However, Ladder 49 is not a total failure. It is saved by two things. One is the high caliber acting of the two star leads and the other is that the plot actually flows very smoothly, albeit predictable. There are no logical gaps and you are actually being told a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.
Now the bad part. It is rather obvious Ladder 49 is capitalizing on the climate of glorification of the firefighters after 9/11. While everybody obviously has great respect for firefighters, the movie cannot avoid flag waving and similar annoying things. It ends up resembling too much a military life movie. But firefighters are not soldiers. There's no need to portray the equivalent of a military wife who sits waiting at her window or other totally military clichés.
Now the bad part. It is rather obvious Ladder 49 is capitalizing on the climate of glorification of the firefighters after 9/11. While everybody obviously has great respect for firefighters, the movie cannot avoid flag waving and similar annoying things. It ends up resembling too much a military life movie. But firefighters are not soldiers. There's no need to portray the equivalent of a military wife who sits waiting at her window or other totally military clichés.