How 'bout we watch the news instead?

Rating: 4/10 (1 August 2006)

I recently caught an advance screening of "World Trade Center". If you are planning on seeing it, please consider these questions first...
1) Despite signs all around you that state "9/11/2001 We Will Never Forget", do you find yourself easily forgetting huge, traumatic events of the past few years? 2) Do you often view after-school specials, only to have them end and think "I don't get it. What life lesson was I supposed to gain from this?" 3) Are you under the age of eight? 4) Do people often repeat things to you, without you prompting them to do so, because of the vacant look in your soulless eyes? 5) Do people often repeat things to you, without you prompting them to do so, because of the vacant look in your soulless eyes? If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, then, by all means, run, don't walk to see this "important" film. Then, punch yourself in the genitals for the next two hours.
The first twenty minutes of the flick is build up to when (spoiler alert) the towers come down, trapping our heroes in the rubble. It is chocked full of impending disaster; A quiet city-scape where all you hear is a plane in the sky, people telling each other to be careful, TONS of long, hard stares. And, I was unaware of this, but apparently, Police officers, Port Authority and Firemen only speak in exposition. They don't have conversations like normal humans. They deal only in information that is unseen by the camera. There is a scene with the Port Authority workers on a bus, and it sounds like an office water cooler conversation. "I heard that this happened!" "Well, I heard this!" "Hey Guys! My wife just said that she heard on the radio, blah, blah, blah." I've heard that, in cinema, it is better to show than to tell. But that's just what I've heard.
So after the towers fall and our heroes are trapped, there are a few very intense scenes (including a cameo by Jesus, looking like an Ipod advertisement), but unfortunately, most of their story is a series of conversations that David Mammet would call "I once had a kitten" stories. These are tales that give you a little background and build sympathy for the character. Because who would be sympathetic towards two guys buried under twenty feet of rubble, unless you knew about their problematic family life? Now I know that this is a true story, and that these conversations probably took place, but does it make for a good film? Not to me.
In the end, when (spoiler alert) Nick Cage is finally pulled out to the surface, we hear him saying "thank you" over and over again to all the people helping him. And this is Oliver Stones way of saluting those that were there. Come on Oliver. If you want to honor the fallen, then lets kick that conspiracy-loving brain of yours into high gear and look at what our government has done in response to and/or leading up to 9/11. Leave the after-school specials to the amateurs and do what you do best.
Did this flick really need to be made while the wound is still so fresh? I can see how, in years to come, this could be an interesting story that attempts to capture the confusion/panic/heartbreak of 9/11 for those who have no memory of the events. But for most people, I think this is a story we are still very familiar with. Who wasn't glued to the TV during that time? Who didn't watch and hope that they would find more people alive in the rubble? The people who were there, that's who. And if I was there, why the *&#@%! would I want to sit down in a dark room, surrounded by strangers, and relive that horrible period of my life so soon? I should probably mention that, right next to me were two guys who couldn't stop sniffling through the whole flick, so maybe I'm just an insensitive jerk.