Oliver is a good boy after all!

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2006)

Director Oliver Stone is not one to shy away from controversy. His Stone Age film career has scrutinized methods that the U.S. Government has invoked in dealing with issues such as: the Vietnam War, JFK Assassination, Watergate, Music Censorship, and the Stock Market to name a few. In his real life, Stone also has been a headliner himself by being arrested for drug possession. I guess Oliver was trying to live up to his last name. However, he brings a disparate directorial approach to the 9/11 film "World Trade Center". Stone focuses the narrative on valor and survival. Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena star as Port Authority officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno. They were one the last survivors rescued from the World Trade Center catastrophe. They were stuck in the rubble of the Twin Towers for numerous hours using their perseverance, humor, and encouragement as survival tools under extreme excruciating circumstances. Cage's Sgt. McLoughiln is an emotionless leader who is silently dumbfounded by the unexpected tragedy. Pena's Officer Jimeno is the simpleton humanitarian who has a way of bringing the unadorned aspects of life to life by using as it as a motivating force. Even though McLoughlin and Jimeno are as dissimilar as they come, they both share a common force in being loving family men and devoted law enforcement reps. Their manhole conversations focused on such assorted topics as: the Starsky & Hutch theme song, Jesus with a water bottle, procrastination of a kitchen cabinet project and paternal responsibilities. Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal play the suffering, despondent wives who are out-of-the-loop on their husbands' fate. Cage and Pena were heroic and powerful with their acting contributions. They were the Twin Thespian Towers of "World Trade Center". However, my opinion was not proportionate in symmetry fashion with the overacted efforts of Bello and Gyllenhaal. These stellar actresses were not at their prime here and their overplayed grief was the slight terror of the film. Screenwriter Andrea Berlof does stay united and committed to the actual verbal interactions which took place on that dismal day. Auteur Stone also constructs the scenes with mesmerizing realities and acute depictions which will stay in your mind & hearts for days. To some "World Trade Center" might be "too much, too large, and too soon". However. I do salute Stone for pledging allegiance by providing us this honorary tale. **** Good