A late comer who shouldn't have bothered

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2011)

I had yet to see this movie, and as the 10 year mark for Sept 11th came around, I remembered that I had yet to see it. So I got my hands on it to watch. Expecting something completely different then what I saw. I am very into the history and human events that happened on 9/11. I have been moved to tears many times, but this story about the two cops was one I missed.. and so I thought I might get a sense of how they dealt with the day.
The first 15 mins of the movie were somewhat able to pull me in. I felt that everything was being rushed way to quickly. You are not really able to feel like you know what point in time these guys are dealing with because they almost refuse to really show any shots of the towers themselves. Only A couple. They never once showed tower 2 being hit. Just made a tiny comment about it through a game of 'telephone' on the bus they are all in. It was a very powerful moment in that day. To just glance over it like they did felt strange to me. That was when the film started to lose it and detach itself from the real events. Maybe Oliver was trying to make us feel that way.. since many of the first responders had no clue was what going on. However, we know what happened. So to not touch in on those things.. made the movie feel detached. Like someone else said.. I saw the French men documentary where they filmed both inside and outside the towers. The brother that was inside.. was able to capture how in the dark the fire fighters were.. While the brother outside, showed us what was really going on. So you were able to understand our public side of the events, and the firefighters. They also filmed the towers coming down.. inside tower one! And it was more moving and gripping then this movie.
They get to the building, and again, you have no idea at what point they got there since they don't show any wide shots of the buildings. They try and throw the time line out at you through quick lines that feel rushed. Then they walk around kind of mindlessly under the buildings. Then the first tower comes down. This part was very powerful. As it at least ties into something that actually happened. And it's something we know happened... .after that however, the movie almost completely detaches from the tragic event it is supposed to be a story of. Stone had more then enough things to grab onto to help this story along, but he ignored all of them. I even forgot I was watching a movie about Sept 11th. They do not show any of the rescues really. OR the fighting done by the firemen and first responders, to try and find people. Unless you personally know what happened on that day, you have no idea about how devastating the entire event was in this movie. He didn't' have to make a story about the fire fighters, but to not address them at all, further detaches from the real 9/11 day. If he bothered to display the horror that happened, THEN showed these two men were able to make it out alive, would have added more weight and depth to their story.
The acting.. was disappointing. These are all professional actors, yet this was like acting in a bad play. I did not see one tear fall from any of the wife's eyes at any time in this movie. Though they -pretended- to cry. The only person who even moved me at ALL was the mother of the man who ran the elevators in tower 2. Her very small moment and emotion in that moment... completely blew away all the other actors out of the water. It made their acting even more painful to deal with. Maggie was all over the place and devoid of any real emotion. I could tell she was an actress trying to act these things. I never once felt like she was a wife who was upset about her husband.
All and all, this movie was just discussing. I'm watching it 10 years after Sept 11th, and I'm insulted by it. I'm insulted because Stone had the ability to tell a great story here about an event that changed America... and he completely flushed it down the toilet and threw out some really bad made for cable TV movie that barely even makes you feel like it's trying to tell any story about 9/11. I would rather watch the real PA cops talk about their ordeal then watch this drivel again. Oliver should be ashamed of himself making this. It's insulting and the fact that it fails to even be touching to such an event, makes the movie feel like it's nothing more then trying to make money from one of the worst days in American history. If he had used his money and time to do a movie that had a point and touched on something real.. then maybe I could see why the movie was made. But since it was a cheap, bad acting job.. clearly it's just a movie that was made... just to try and profit off of 9/11.. and I'm insulted.