The Best Ron Howard Film That Ron Howard Never Made.

Rating: 4/10 (14 August 2006)

I didn't dislike this film, but I sure didn't like it a whole lot. It has nothing to do with the "it's too soon for 9/11 stories" argument. It has more to do with the fact that all throughout the film, I kept thinking of the almost 2,900 other families that had bad news that day.
I am very happy Officers Jimeno and McLoughlin survived and I am sure they are equally happy as well. They had something very horrible happen to them that I truly would not wish on anyone. They were both extremely lucky when a massive building fell on their heads. But other than getting lucky, what did they do that was so inspiring? Having worked as a paramedic, I can tell you that most anyone else in that same situation would have done the same things they did to keep up their spirits and to live. Generally speaking, people fight for their lives; it is totally natural and ingrained in us to do so. However, just because we have a story that is exceptional in real life, it does not always become that amazing a movie story.
Roger Ebert is on to something in his review; would World Trade Center be anywhere near as compelling if it were about, say, two construction workers surviving for a day in the rubble after the collapse of a parking garage in Muncie, Indiana? I mean, have the trapped workers say all the same dialog and the use the same cut aways to the worried families. Would that film be anything more than a mediocre episode of Rescue 911? Although this film is well made and competently put together, it really resembles a TV movie of the week with a big budget more than anything else.
It is the forced sense of inspiration I felt throughout the film that bugged me. I want to be inspired because of something great and unique that happened that day. Certainly the stories in the excellent book 102 Minutes tell of numerous happenings far more hairy, scary, dangerous and inspirational than the story of these two Port Authority cops found alive in the rubble. I mean, with one exception, no professional rescuer ever reached anyone in the impact area of either building.
It was the regular, untrained and very scared ordinary men and women who helped their fellow citizens on the impact floors who were the real heroes in the World Trade Center. Many of them died when the building collapsed even though they had time to escape. They just kept going back for more trapped people. Once again, I'm not criticizing the trapped Port Authority men or their rescuers, but the filmmakers for taking the easy way out and making this story so blandly joyful that I actually felt nothing at the end.
In fact, the only moment where I felt emotion and tears welling up (and incidentally the only moment when I heard anyone else in the audience react) was when Jimeno's wife was talking to the black woman whose son was an elevator operator in the South Tower and she says that she yelled at him the last time she saw him. It was a beautiful moment played between the two actresses that was truly poignant. The film could have used more moments like that.
Maybe I expected something a little more provocative from Oliver Stone. He can usually be counted on to get the emotions boiling (for better or worse) but not in this film. This could have been a Ron Howard film in that it was completely safe, sane, bland and not objectionable in any way. Opie could even have given a supporting role to his brother Clint as one of the rescuers.
Also, who was that scary guy with Charles Manson eyes who put on his Marine uniform and went down to Ground Zero to help out? Is that a true story? He came across as a weird individual. Especially when he starts saying things about God's curtains and stuff. Well, every disaster brings out the wackos. Overall, I liked the film, but I did find it a bit dull, uninspiring and certainly when we see Jesus bringing the Evian water, I almost laughed.
I have no doubt that future films about September 11 will be held to a different standard and we may see something similar to the Holocaust Film Syndrome. That syndrome postulates that any film against the Holocaust must ipso facto be a good film because of its subject matter alone. To criticize a Holocaust film (for being lousy or stupid) is like agreeing with the Nazi's. This syndrome is more prevalent among the members of the general public than among critics, which is why a morally reprehensible piece of junk like Life Is Beautiful can be so inexplicably popular.
Remember, just because a film is about a noble subject, it does not automatically mean that the film is any good.