WORLD TRADE CENTER

[Agent of God !]

WORLD TRADE CENTER 6.5/10

6 to 7: Good DVD rental, entertaining once often forgettable.
(Flight Plan, Resident Evil, Die another Day)

REVIEW: To this day the collective consciousness recalls these 2 passenger planes crash into each of the 2 buildings that constituted the then renowned world trade center on September 11, 2001. This tragedy violently ended an estimated 3000 lives. World Trade Center is the story of the brave men and women who selflessly gave their lives to save others; Heroes who exercised their duties with courage, faithfulness and dedication though difficult often seemingly impossible situations the day the unpredictable happened.



To me, what has become widely known as 9/11 can be compared to the Kennedy assassination because it is a day that forces people to try to remember where they were, what they were doing and how they took the news of the worst terrorist attack in history. I remember first hearing the news early in the morning on the radio on my way to downtown Montreal. Later that day on St-Catherine’s street people seemed obsessed with what had occurred while I remained numb, focused on my own problems. It was only a few days later when I saw footages of the tragedy that I reacted, they felt like scenes out of a movie, so unreal yet undeniable. The terrorist’s schemes as explained by analysts seemed to come out of the script of a Hollywood blockbuster yet the truth is that hatred had really pushed people to plan and perpetrate those terrible acts.

I wasn’t sure making a film about this tragedy was a good idea; I mean filmmaking is an artistic medium of expression that has increasingly become a highly lucrative industry. So making money out of one of the worst days in history didn’t seem right to me.
But like I said earlier this film pays tribute to the thousands of men and women who defied difficult circumstances for others; first Cage’s and Pena’s characters then all the rest (Firemen, medics, soldiers and more). Living in Montreal, I only got a brief glimpse of the true magnitude of what had occurred that day so it was a good thing to be shown the great sacrifices that had been made by so many while unimaginable tons of concrete fell (or were constantly about to) and threatened to crush them at any time.



The fact that 9/11 is a true event and due to its seriousness, Oliver Stone’s directorial style and his orchestrating of the aesthetic fruits of the production team was sort of restrained. There was nothing visually fancy anywhere. The plane crashes themselves were not shown but cleverly suggested, we didn’t see those horrible shots that traveled the world showing the planes slam into the buildings but instead we saw, over a building a gliding shadow that should not have been there. The acting was very appropriate but down to earth realistic all around. The actors playing scared, frustrated family members were given more as opposed to our two main characters who were vaguely recognizable because of their particular ordeal. Another fact that I truly enjoyed in WTC is that no one pointed an accusing finger at anybody, here in this review I am not going to either. It wasn’t a question of who did it but more of a question of how can we help make things better at this point.



In my humble opinion, the film’s greatest assets; its humanity, simplicity and sincerity are ironically and unavoidably its greatest weaknesses, as far as the entertaining factor goes. It was a tragedy, a terrible day when thousands of people died, families were broken, a nation was in tears and the world was shocked. Although some moments of the film were poignant all of those facts (with its score) prohibit it to be fun to us, it mostly is like the page of a history book that was reopened to show us an aspect (Search and rescue mostly) of a certain story in time. Participants, events shown in this motion picture were to be shown with realism and respect which required a certain style that involves both visual and narrative inputs that moves the finished product away from the stylish or mainstream that most film goers go for. I graded World Trade Center 6.5/10, because I felt a sort of necessary soberness in it that made me think it would have made a great documentary because besides the many human tragedies taking place there really wasn’t much to it. It did a good job at entertaining me once but I feel I don’t ever want to see it again.

Agent out!

[Agent of God !]

PLOT: World Trade Center is the true story of John McLoughlin (Cage) and Will Jimeno (Pena), 2 of the many NYPD policemen who volunteered to help evacuate the twin towers of the world trade center the day they were attacked. As the buildings fell to the ground, McLoughlin and Jimeno found themselves immobilized under several tons of rubble. The 2 men slowly lose hope of being rescued, their families fear the worst as the entire city of New-York scrambles around the crash sites fervently searching for survivors.



Agent out!

[ilovemovies]

Best film of 2006 thus far. It's just extraordinary. Touching and deeply moving. There were so many scenes in this movie that moved me tears. Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena both give oscar caliber performances. As do Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Some truly terrifying and horrifying and harrowing moments. Completely and utterly gripping. Most movies, even most great movies, my attention can go in and out a few times. Not true with World Trade Center. This movie me completely gripped and held my complete and undivided attention from the opening scene to the final scene. Amazing work from Oliver Stone. It's EASILY his best movie since JFK, 15 years ago.

Gripping and uplifting, sad and but also touching and ultimately life-affirming, this is an unforgettable movie of amazing power. It's too early in the year to proclaim this movie as the best of 2006, but I really don't think I'll watch a better movie, a movie of this unbelievable and amazing power, all year long.

10/10

A+

**** out of ****

[fmj123]

I Hated this movie. i would give it 1 out of 10. I love nicolas cage's acting, but this just was terrible. It wasn't even sad!! I know that this kind of movie should be made in remembrance of all of the people who saved people and people who died, but i think we could have made a movie a little better than this.