A Hard Topic to Tackle on the Big Screen

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2013)

One thing that can be mutually agreed upon for anyone who was sadly a part of this tragedy is that it's never the right time to make movies like this. Whether it's a movie about Pearl Harbor or the Rwandan Genocide, someone is going to be disturbed, upset etc. about the material portrayed on screen. So when Mr. Greengrass decided to make a film this early about 9/11 was going to shake some people up. Sadly to say, there is no need for spoilers for this film since we all know the sad ending for these people just trying to travel. Anyway, what makes this film great isn't the material that was presented but rather the taste that Greengrass used when presenting it. He contacted the victims families and worked with the ones that returned his calls in order to present the characters in the most realistic ways possible. You'll notice the biggest name in the cast is the man who played Tom Burnett who won an Emmy for Boston Legal. This makes the film all the better, you can see where these actors could easily be one of us. Something that Oliver Stone failed to do with World Trade Center. Greengrass also did a great job by simply replaying the events as they unfolded instead of creating a faux storyline to throw in (even though the German character was more than likely exaggerated to say the least). He brought in the people who were actually there and had them tell their story rather then hiring a bunch of actors to just guess. Hell it gave one person an opportunity to work in Hollywood in the future (watch the Green Zone and you'll see who exactly it was). Even then, Greengrass used his Bourne style of filmmaking to keep us at the edge of our seats. You know how the film ends before it even begins and you still believe that things will turn for the better. That's all Greengrass and if it wasn't for The Departed, Babel and the 5 film rule, this would've been nominated for an Oscar. Just a great film that could've been treated with a lot less respect, considering that it was not written by an American (Greengrass is British to those that don't know), but it was treated with all the respect that these heroes deserve.
To All Haters: This film isn't meant to do anything more then just tell a story. Unlike Michael Moore who has a blatant liberal agenda (and an extra hundred lbs. he can afford to lose, politics and his lawsuits aside), Greengrass just wants to show what happened on 9/11, no more no less. This is something that should be appreciated in a Hollywood where an agenda is always evident (no matter what issue, but there's always one).
RIP to all those lost on 9/11. No time passed, war, or movie can bring back those lost so the best thing we can do as humans is to learn from history and try and better ourselves as a race.