My Review for World Trade Center(contains much spoiling)

My boyfriend took me a to (surprisingly) packed matinee today to see the movie and here is my review.

First off, you would never know that this was an Oliver Stone movie. Left out were the political statements, choppy editing, and general weirdness that plague his typical movie. It could have easily been mistaken for anything done by Ridley Scott.

The movie starts off with a severely aged Nicholas Cage who plays one of 20 survivors pulled from the rubble of the WTC. The movie has a bleak and eerie overtone as he begins his workday on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 as a Sargeant of the NY Port Authority Police. He checks each of his children before leaving but neither kisses nor even says goodbye to his wife. This becomes a tragic detail that plays out in later scenes. Stone then makes a point to focus on the city as it wakes up and begins a new day, fish markets open, people unload product trucks, people head to work on subways. Back at the Port Authority headquarters, Will Jimeno is a rookie who endures the razzing of his coworkers, showing the fraternity-like brotherhood of the men who work as civil servants. They head out for their daily duties.

As Officer Jimeno helps a tourist, there is the ominous shadow and loud boom of a plane. The impact is implied and felt but not shown. However, the shadow is clearly a very large plane. The police meet back at headquaters to devise a plan and head out. Sargeant MacLoughlin drives an SUV towards the disaster site admitting that despite all their plans, they weren't prepared for this type of situation. He orders people off of a city bus to accomidate 20+ officers who follow close to his heels. They are told on the bus that they are in good hands because Sargeant Macloughlin is one of the men who designed the emergency plans after the '93 bombing.

Once they arrive at the WTC, the sight is horrific. People are running around bleeding, papers and rubble are everywhere, and bodies are falling from the sky. the Sargeant and a few others..Jimeno, Polezzo, and Rodrigues go to the police outpost in one of the towers to retrieve equipment. As they move through the concourse level, the terrible thuds of bodies hitting the roof above them shakes not only the characters but the audience as well. The men are told to not talk about it, they have a job to do and it does not include being upset of dead people. They meet up with the others of their team.

Throughout these entire scenes, rumors fly that the second tower was hit but none of men was able to confirm that. As MacLoughlin asks what's the deal with the other building, there is the scary crackling and rumbling of the building, window displays of the mall shops begin breaking, glass and rubble fly and all the men run for the elevator shafts. In a crushing(literally) shot, all the men are covered in pieces-parts of the building. They are blissfully unaware that the building has collapsed. MacLoughlin assumes that the concourse has simply been blown up like in '93 and that their rescue is near. It's learned that only 4 of the original group were alive at this point and only one man, Polezzo, is able to move around. He tries to lift rubble off of his comrades but his attempts are futile. Then, in what we must assume is the collapse of the other tower, Polezzo becomes doomed and dies an agonizing death.

The film then focuses on Donna MacLoughlin and Alyson Jimeno, the wives of the two fallen heros. Donna is a housewife with a perfect blend of vulnerable tenderness and a tough-as-nails demeanor that only the New Jersey wives of policemen and firefighters seem to possess. She is clearly distraught and weakening but must give off the air of strength for her 4 children who are hellbent on their father returning home. Alyson is 5 months pregnant with a 4 year old daughter. Unlike Donna(who is clearly more experienced as the wife of a civil servant), Alyson loses her grip much more quickly. She becomes obsessed with one phone call to let her know if Will is alive or dead. She can't even function as a mother, so her daughter is sent to play with a neighbor through the ordeal.

Back in the rubble, the scenes are clausterphobic and dehydrating. Jimeno and MacLoughlin must keep each other awake despite the desire to forget their pain and fall asleep. They share stories about their families where the scenes are intermixed with memories. It's sad and very relateable.

In an offshoot subplot, there is a man who is a former marine who decides to leave work, don his uniform, and join the search for survivors. In the movie, he is the only character who makes any sort of political comments..all off them about revenge and war where he reminds people that we are at war and that these attacks must be avenged. He sets out to make the dangerous exploration of the ruins where he is joined by another rescue worker. He is later joined by a paramedic and firefighter played by the almost unrecognizable Stephen Dorff and Frank Whaley. These 4 men become the key players to unearthing Jimeno and MacLoughlin.

The families of the men endure arguments, grief, confusion, and in one gutwrenching scene..Alyson has to tell her 4 year old that daddy may not be coming home. In the end, both men are pulled out of the wreckage with a bittersweet feel. Happy to be alive but in shock over what they see once they are free of their twisted concrete prison and the knowledge that they are the only ones of their group to survive.

Oliver Stone does a brilliant job of recreating the events and making the audience feel every single moment. You become closed in and scared during the scenes of the entrapment. You become thirstier as well. You know they live in the end but you still fear that the rubble with collapse and it will be the end. You feel every single emotion coming from the wives and their families. The soundtrack was absolutely perfect with it's haunting lilt and crescendos that enhance the scenes not overshadow them like so many movies fall victim to.

Last but not least, you leave the movie with a sad but rejuvenated sense of patriotism. You literally want to go out, buy an American flag, and seek out a policeman to hug. It's a movie that reminds you, not of the death and evil of that day but about how the country came together...if even for a moment...out of pure love. The movie causes you to forget about your conspiracy theories and the hatred for the president. It's a surprising maneuver for the outspoken critic of Bush that Stone is. All you care about it is rooting for the men to survive, for the families to have a happy reunion, and for the rescue workers to prevail.

The audience sat silent as the credits rolled, the only sound being the sniffles of crying people. There wasn't any dialogue as people exited, one elderly couple hugged each other and my boyfriend took my hand.

I highly recommend this movie, even to those who think it's too soon. Because while you think you know what that day was like, it's completely different when you are forced to view it from a whole different perspective that only the actual people who were physically there experienced. It leaves you with the utter disbelief of what people can survive. The fact that these two men lived to tell about their ordeal makes them true heros in my book.

So there you have it, hope I did not bore you but this movie really touched me...moreso then I ever thought it could.

 

everyone who was apart of this movie should be ashamed. didn't "they" make enough money off all the advertising, when they had america glued in fear to the television??? i mean shit, 911 only happened four 5 years ago! i bet that minutes after 911 there were producers all over hollywood watering at the mouth of a movie about this tragedy. makes me sick that they are making money from spilt blood.

 

Do you watch the news? Should make you sick too!

Summary sounded just like what I expected...complete and utter hollywood shit.

 

thats kinda what i meant when i mentioned people being glued to the tv....

 

You know what? Could you please not hijack my thread to debate or bitch about the existance of the movie? Seriously.

Unless you actually saw the movie, I don't think you have business bashing my opinion of it. If you saw the movie and disagree with my assesment then so be it. But if not, shut the fuck up and go start your own thread about the subject.

 

^pwned..haha..9/11 was a conspiracy anyway

 

That was probably the whole intention.

 

I know the scene you're referring to quite well. But when you say it was the sound of "bodies hitting the roof," which roof exactly are you referring to? How can there be a roof above the main lobby when the roof is 109 storys up?

Just wondering what you meant. Please clarify.

 

There was a roof above the concourse level and there were several rooves/awnings over the lobby/enterance ways from the courtyard and walkways between the buildings.

I personally remember seeing the courtyard(s) and hanging out in it, the last time I was in NYC during the late 90s. It was like an art garden with modern scuptures, trees..ect.

Bodies were landing on those rooftops when the people jumped from above. As sad as it is, if it weren't for those coverings, more people would probably have been killed from bodies and body parts that dropped down.

 

Considering the source..ie: Oliver Stone, I doubt that was his intention. He merely wanted us to remember those who ran into two burning buildings with no other reason then to save lives while thousands ran in the opposite direction.

This movie doesn't make you love the government or politicians...it just makes you love the brave men and women of your local emergency services even more. It's a shoving reminder that there are people who would selflessly risk their lives to save yours.

 

I saw it. It was pretty good.

 

What does "Hollywood" have to do with "enough money being made on advertising, when they had americans glued to the television?" Hollywood and CNN, as well as Network New are not the same thing.

I'll probably see it when it comes out on video, maybe, I like Stone. I haven't seen a movie at the theatre in ages. I doubt I will see this one in the theatre.

 

CNN is Hollywood, just has a different name. there's more acting and bullshit on CNN and other news shows than ever. i was just refering to a broad spectrum of "entertainment venues" (i.e hollywood movies, the news, and other television programs).....they've all made plenty of money of it. and its time to stop. its time to stop using fear as a way to get people planted in front of there televisions...who are terrified that Osama is coming to there small Iowa town. its bullshit.

 

I trust Oliver Stone can make a good movie about 9/11, easily able to trigger an emotional response in his viewers. He's damn good at what he does. Doesn't mean he should have.

He fuckin' made JFK, you think he'd have some kind of... I don't know... different opinion on 9/11 that he could incorporate into his movie, make people think, instead of making some kind of hollywood cheese.

 

You obviously have not seen the movie, nor have a clue what it is about. There was no opinion on 9/11 that he incorporated. The movie was a survival story of two Port Authority officers who where trapped in the rubble after the towers collapsed. The characters they portrayed are real people and the events that took place are real. There is no interpretation. There is no politics. As I stated in the other WTC movie thread, this movie could have been about an earthquake or other natural disaster. Again, this movie was about a survival story. It had nothing to do with who, what, and why 9/11 happened. It had nothing to do with Bush, Afghanistan, Iraq, al Qaeda, Homeland Security, Patriot Act, etc.....
I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think anybody should be commenting unless they have seen the movie. If people feel a need to comment, then they should start a thread "What I think the movie World Trade Center is about".

 

I know there are no opinions, I'm saying there should have been.

Once again, survival story=total hollywood cheese. And I'll never see this movie. Call me closed-minded, I don't care. I'm sure it glorifies the heroes of 9/11 but goddammit we shouldn't need a movie to know who the heroes are. Its simply capitalization on a horrible event.

 

A co-worker friend of mine(we work for a theater) was asked by a customer if he had see it and what he thought of the movie. My friend said something along the lines of "yeah, it was alright", which is a pretty typical answer from an employee who has seen every movie released since forever. Anyway, the guy got indignant and kinda mad. He was like, "I was there, and that's exactly how it was!" My thought was, hey the dude asked for your opinion and you gave it. I guess the guy wanted him to say something else.