World Trade Center Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)August 8th, 2006
WORLD TRADE CENTER
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Oliver Stone, Mr. Conspiracy Theory himself, for one of the few times in his life, brings us a conspiracy-free story that is absence of any villains. The irony here is rich since WORLD TRADE CENTER concerns events surrounding the horrific effects of the most infamous conspiracies in recent memory, as Islamic terrorists tried to bring the United States to its knees.
You can think of WORLD TRADE CENTER as the anti-UNITED 93. UNITED 93 was hard-hitting and honest, as it portrayed the horror of the situation without sugarcoating the evil cause of the calamity. On the other hand, WORLD TRADE CENTER is a feel-good picture -- a version of the events that Frank Capra would have loved. UNITED 93 was demanding and devastating, while WORLD TRADE CENTER celebrates the heroism of the police officers and the firefighters who tackle what, for all intents and purposes, appears to be a natural disaster. Only sporadic, brief mention is ever made of the murderers and the real cause of the horrors. And when people are dying in the film, they are full of politically-correct anger that isn't focused on the perpetrators of the crime. One almost-widow, for example, doesn't get infuriated at the Arab militants who tried once before to bring down the towers and succeeded this time. Oh no, she's upset that the policewoman who called her didn't have the most accurate information on the state of her husband's condition.
The film is at its best at the beginning, as a small team of cops from the Port Authority Bus Terminal head to the World Trade Center on 9/11 to lend a hand in the rescue. The group is led by Sergeant John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage), a guy with twenty-one years on the job, and includes Will Jimeno (Michael Peņa), a nervous hero with six years on the force. The two of them are soon buried in rubble before they have an opportunity to help anyone.
The long body of the movie is in bad need of trimming. At least a half hour needs to go. Do we really need to tag along with Will's wife, Allison (Maggie Gyllenhaal), as she goes shopping and as she waits impatiently for a long red light to turn? The middle part of the film, which is most of it, happens mainly away from the World Trade Center.
So what do we see? We watch people watching the events on their televisions. We observe the policemen's families -- Maria Bello plays John's wife -- as they wait in agony. And we keep cutting back to the good times the families had before the buildings collapsed. Oh yes, we also cut to some long and badly scripted scenes of two talking heads -- John and Will. As they lie on their sides, covered in dust, and appear about to die, their faces are barely visible as they attempt small talk with each other -- "Hang in there Sarge!" and "Don't fall asleep Will!"
The ending could have been powerful even following the long slog through its prelude, but Stone drags it out by a factor of four, thereby needlessly muting its effect.
Don't get me wrong. All of the emergency responders that day were heroes in my book. I just wish they had something better than this mess of a movie to commemorate their bravery -- something with the genuine emotional and well directed impact that UNITED 93 had. I kept feeling manipulated in WORLD TRADE CENTER, while UNITED 93 placed me right in the midst of tragedy and never attempted to force-feed me a prepackaged set of emotions.
WORLD TRADE CENTER runs 2:07. It is rated PG-13 for "intense and emotional content, some disturbing images and language" and would be acceptable for teenagers. Some people in our audience brought little ones. Big mistake. The youngsters cried their eyes out, but their parents refused to leave, forcing the kids to endure it all.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, August 9, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
