Good movie. Tough, honest, heartfelt.

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2009)

I liked this one. Sure much of it has Nick Cage and the other guy trapped in rubble, in agony, grimacing at one another in the dark while they wait to be saved--while outside their Concerned Wives do the filmdom cliché Concerned Wives things--but-it works.
Cage didn't have to do anything but keep a stiff upper lip here. He was fine. His partner in crime-same thing, just-a bit ethnic. Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal were both moving in their supporting roles, experiencing several roller coaster peaks and valleys of emotion as the tragic wait unfolds.
Stone does a fine job here-the shadow of the plane speeding across the building-sides, the rain of debris coming down, the total ruination all around, the confusion and fear and anger of 9-11, all presented very well. The snippets of people jumping/falling from the towers or of the buildings burning or Brokaw intoning on the TV--these were all parts of that day, along w/ the constant tide of hijackings, crashes, death and confusion. It's handled rather well here.
I liked it and it just rang true. It's not something you'll wanna revisit over and over, but it was done intelligently and honestly, and I thought Stone did a good job reining in his JFK-ish bents here.
The material deserved no less.
*** outta ****