Powerful Film

Rating: 9/10 (9 August 2006)

I just got back from seeing this and it was a very emotional and powerful film that was well directed, acted, edited, scored, and written. I'm very sad right now though. It was hard to watch at times especially in the beginning. It's really scary and intense. I know some people say it's too soon, and I can understand that. I can also understand those who condemn the film business for making a movie about such a horrible tragedy. However, this movie doesn't turn 9/11 into a Hollywood story. It doesn't make it more than what it really was. I'm not going to say that it was completely realistic and everything about it was true to the story, but it certainly does a great job. Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena aren't McLoughlin or Jimeno, but they did portray those emotions those two went through in a way that can give us all a little taste of what those two experienced. And what makes the movie so great is that its only job is to tell the story of these two people. It doesn't try to cover all of the stories of that day. Oliver Stone and the cast made this a personal film that the audience will connect with and feel for. The film was painful, sad, hopeful, scary, and powerful.