While Sept. 11 helped embellish the already heroic image of firefighters, "Ladder 49" doesn't owe any direct debt to such recent events. It plays, rather, like an old-fashioned, by-the-numbers drama ...

THERE ARE real firefighters in the world who regularly perform heroic deeds. That is an inarguable fact, and it should not be confused with discussion of "Ladder 49," a movie that attempts to convey ...