Underwhelming

Rating: 4/10 (13 October 2006)

Before I start out with the review, I would just like to make clear that I am not anti-America in any way. I just think it needs to be said that this movie is just... not very good. Which is a shame, because the premise had lots of potential: we are, after all, talking about one of the first major dramatic events in the Western World at the dawn of the 21st century.
If this movie didn't have the WTC label on it, I doubt it would have been picked up as a script. For a disaster movie, it just is just LACKING in a lot of critical areas.
The movie starts out excellent: a new day rises over NY, a cop wakes up and goes to work, where he meets his partners. They get called in to the WTC. The place is falling apart around them as they try to rescue the people inside. They get buried alive. So far, the movie is pretty captivating. But then it goes wrong:
-The focus.
So, The entire movie focuses on 2 cops and their families who are waiting at home, eating themselves. We get some real footage (that didn't really fit well) some news footage and a Bush speech thrown in, as well. Couple of nice effects of the tower collapsing, too.
But it isn't enough. I was expecting to see it from the start. To see how the planes got hijacked, the scared people on board, the terrorists as they flew into the buildings. Indeed, the crash or the planes themselves are never even shown, just a lame shadow effect and a couple of loud bangs. Wow. They sure cut corners in the graphical department here. We don't see the planes going into the buildings, there isn't enough footage of the towers burning, and then collapsing. This is supposed to be about 9/11, right? How the towers were attacked? Well how about SHOWING US THE BLOODY CRASH?! This was a golden opportunity and they MISSED it. And what about all the other people who died, the people in the planes, what about all the victims on the top floors. Don't we get to meet them?
-The cast.
Sure, Nicolas Cage is a great actor, but... wait a sec? Is that the chick who got spanked by her boss in that S&M-themed movie, ''Secretary''? What the hell is she doing in a movie about the WTC? I can't see her as an innocent pregnant woman after seeing THAT flick, sorry. And a lot of the other family members looked like they had never seen a camera before. With a big movie like this, shouldn't there be some bigger names in it?
-The misplaced religious stuff.
What? Why are we looking at some guy sitting in a church, looking at a giant cross? Why is Jesus in this film? Don't get me wrong, I respect Christians, but this was just plain... weird. At one point I thought they were actually mocking the religion itself. Something about Jesus holding a bottle of water, and how he was trying to tell them to hold on. Are these writers on drugs? What does this have to do with anything? It was just more padding. This movie could have lasted an hour without all the useless scenes. They didn't put in the planes but they had room for some extremely vague dialogue and scenes like this?
-The dramatic scenes.
It wasn't all bad. There was some powerful stuff in here, like how the blond wife was fantasizing about how her husband was in his workshop while he was teaching his son to saw. Nicolas talking to his wife while half-awake was good. The woman at the hospital who's son got buried: good.
But what's up with the stupid children. Some angry kid keeps telling his mom to go look for his dad, in a collapsed building, with lots of dangerous debris and pitfalls? Is he insane? He is clearly past the age of 10, so he should know better than this. Or the hilarious subplot about what to name one of the guy's unborn child. Useless banter. Shouldn't we be focusing on the main plot? Maybe?
-The comedy.
This film is supposed to be a drama. Unfortunately, I, and most of the theater with me, laughed out loud when one of the officer's gun was starting to fire on it's own. Was that intentional? A big OOPS moment...
-The happy ending.
Yeah, the cops got rescued, and their families are happy. Years later they are still celebrating. A perfect ending to any random disaster movie.
However, this movie is about the WTC TERRORIST ATTACKS. For thousands of people, there was no happy ending AT ALL. It must have been an enormous slap in the face for all the people who's loved ones died that day, to watch... this.
You guessed it, I didn't come out of the theater very pleased. This movie was a very forgettable experience, and doesn't do the subject ANY JUSTICE at all. Somebody should have stepped in and rewritten the script. What a waste, what a waste...