Stone's 'Trade center' a powerful, gut-wrenching film

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2006)

Being the cynic that I am, and having to watch two or three films per week, has left me a bit jaded at times. Try as I might to enjoy a movie for nothing more than entertainment value, and not as a project to critique, I still fall into the constant reviewer trap. honestly, it can be a bit disconcerting.
That's how I felt recently when the new Oliver Stone film "World Trade Center" appeared on my "must see" list. Having barely lived through his last two colossal duds, "Any Given Sunday" and "Alexander," and realizing the director's penchant for tweaking historical facts (see "Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK"), I girded myself up for another long, boring ego trip.
Fortunately (or UNfortunately, in light of the subject matter), Stone's often overbearing hand has developed a sudden deft touch here. Perhaps the topic is still too raw in the minds of Americans to mess with. Perhaps the wounds have yet to heal, and little tolerance would be given in this matter. After all, he had 30 years to think about the Kennedy assassination, but only five to put this story on film.
It's the harrowing tale of two New York Port Authority officers, Sgt. John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and rookie patrolman Will Jimeno (Micahel Pena, "Million Dollar Baby," but best known for his TV work in "The Shield" and "CSI") who respond to the terrorist attacks on the Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, only to become trapped themselves when the towers collapse.
Caught in a dark, choking, dust-filled grave, and with one of their fellow officers, Dominick Pezzulo (Jay Hernadez) already dead, the two hold out little realistic hope for survival (even worse, neither of them knows WHY all of this happened). Each has a wife and family, however, so amidst this pocket of suffocation, they try to keep each other's spirits up. It isn't easy, though, since Jimeno is trapped under a huge concrete slab and his boss' legs are crushed.
Interspersed with these claustrophobic sequences are scenes of McLoughlin's wife, Donna (Maria Bello, Oscar-nominated for "A History of Violence" and will probably get another for this role), and Jimeno's spouse, Allison (Maggie Gyllenhaal, fresh off her voice-over role in "Monster House"). These tug at the heart even more, since the wives are as helpless as the husbands and no one seems to know if they are living or dead.
On a day when close to 3,000 individuals perished and scores more were injured, the fate of two PA officers was pretty inconsequential in the big picture. But, thankfully, Stone wasn't interested in the big picture. Sure, he throws in contemporary news reports of the incident as everyone gathered around their televisions to find out what was going on, but despite the enormity of the situation, there were thousands of little stories to tell.
A subplot has a former Marine Staff Sergeant, Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon, "Bad Boys II," "The Woodsman"), now an accountant in Wilton, Conn., seeing the tragedy, declaring that "we are now at war," and leaving his place of employment. Saying that God had something for him to do, he went to church, then put on his old uniform (kept starched and pressed for some reason) and drove as fast as he could to Ground Zero. He was admitted through the barricades and proceeded to search by himself (and later with another Marine) in the dark for survivors.
In the pit, John is slowly bleeding to death, but Will tries to keep him awake by talking about "Starsky & Hutch" and asking him about his family. Will's banging of a nearby pipe is heard by the two soldiers, who alert rescue workers to their presence. But with both men getting weaker by the minute and losing more and more blood, time is now running against them.
Stone boils down the cataclysm enough so that we today - with five years of hindsight - can look back at the personal horrors many people went through. Like "United 93" from earlier this year, there's no political posturing or axes to grind. The shot of Pres. Bush speaking to the public, promising to avenge the act was greeted by a few audience member hoots, but overall ideology was pushed to the back burner so the story of two families struggling amidst the worldwide disaster could be told.
A powerful, heart wrenching, emotional piece of work, one of the year's best, so far.