Ho hum

Rating: 4/10 (7 March 2007)

This isn't so much a (or is it an) 9/11 movie as a miner trapped underground movie.
The terrorism aspect is so downplayed except for a few comments at the end that it's hard to work out why Stone decided to do it this way. Two men trapped underground for a few days, their families worry, and they get rescued. It's hardly groundbreaking stuff (excuse the pun). The fact that the twin towers of the world trade centre are what's fallen on them is very downplayed. Maybe that's deliberate given it's only 6 years since it happened but - sheesh - what a disappointment.
Great visual effects, expect for the last few shots of the smoke etc where you can clearly see that the city skyline is superimposed over the TV stock footage foreground (boy is that amateur stuff) - what a real disappointment that is.
Stone seems to think you can chuck in an epic moment in history and toss in a couple of personal life vignettes (Apollo 13, not his, I know, but your get the idea, come to mind?) This could have been such a powerful movie but fell so short it was really disappointing. I realises the producers had the 'feelings' of the greater US population to consider but I would have preferred a drama wrapped around the elevator guy who's mum appears in the final few scenes. That would at least have been a real story.
To me that would have magnified the tragedy. Policemen, firemen, marines do a great job, but part of that job is the risk of being killed. When it happens (like here) we shouldn't be so surprised, so easily swayed into thinking they are any more heroic than the bankers, school teachers, tourists and other people who died that day.
I think this movie diss's all of the above. It's enjoyable on a simple level but disturbing on another. It makes you wonder if the USA has actually learned anything from what happened on September 11.
From Stone's effort, it would appear not. That's sad.