Gripping and Powerful, but no masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (10 August 2006)

Gripping. Powerful. Masterpiece.
These are just three of the words that have appeared in various print reviews for the new September 11th themed movie World Trade Centre.
Directed by Oliver Stone (Platoon, Nixon) and starring Nicholas Cage (Matchstick Men), the movie chronicles the hours of two Port Authority Police Officers that were trapped in the rubble of the fallen World Trade Centre after the terrorist attacks on that fateful morning in 2001.
The film's opening is quiet. It starts quietly at 3:59AM on September 11th, 2001. There is no rousing or exasperated musical score as Stone discretely takes us through Manhattan as we see people on their way to work as the two towers stand tall in the backdrop. In just five minutes we are reminded of the beauty of the buildings. The majestic presence they had over the New York skyline, and the horrors that were just hours away.
As we meet the families of John McLoughlin (Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) we can anticipate the hardship and emotional tear jerking that will ensue. John is a father of four young children while Will has a wife (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is five month pregnant with their baby daughter.
These two unknowing heroes gear up for work as if it were another day and are called soon after to the Towers to help with the evacuations. As they prepare emergency supplies and head for the elevator, we hear the crackling and buckling of concrete and metal that snaps in Dolby around the theatre. We know what is going to happen, but the audience was still on the edge of its seat until the inevitable occurs.
To Stone's credit, he does not show the two towers crumbling down except for on the televisions in many background shots. Instead, he gives us a first hand impression as to what it must have been like for these two police officers who were in the lobby and running towards the elevator shaft for safety.
The next hour and forty five minutes are split between listening to the two trapped men try and struggle to stay awake and alive while their families cope with not knowing their ultimate fate.
World Trade Centre comes on the cusp of the five year anniversary of the event. Some media types claim that America may not yet be ready to relive the experiences of the day that will live in infamy. But World Trade Centre is a movie of hope. Of American's working together to save the lives of those trapped in the rubble. It is the American spirit lived through the world's eyes on that fateful summers day.
It is Stone that should get the most credit here. He has constructed a movie that on paper doesn't seem that deep. Two men are trapped nearly the whole movie and cannot move while other rescue workers go about their jobs to find survivors. Without the backdrop of the event, the movie would never have been made as having Nicholas Cage's face being the only thing that can be seen on screen for ¾ of the film would be considered a waste of talent otherwise.
But Stone casually brings the actual and/or inspired events of the two men gracefully to the screen while still projecting a sense of urgency and fear for those sitting at home awaiting word about their loved ones.
Call me insensitive, but World Trade Centre and United 93 would make a great double bill. Both are based on real accounts of the day and both show the chaos of the situation and how normal men rose to the occasion to become heroes.
Gripping? Yes. Powerful? Certainly. But a Masterpiece? No. World Trade Centre does have its flaws and in the Stone filmography, it ranks behind both Platoon and JFK. But the movie is above average. It will have you relive moments that are still as clear as the day they occurred. And you will watch again one more time in fear for the lives of those lost that day.
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