There is no other movie like it

Rating: 9/10 (13 August 2006)

that is the best way to describe this film from my point of view. it is so stand alone that there are few movies to compare it to. some people have worried that this movie was made to early (just under one month of five years after the incidents depicted) but that plays into why this movie is so unlike anything you've ever seen before. the effects are so well done that at first I thought they had to have actually destroyed a building during the shot to get it. the movie also paints a horrifying picture for those of us who got to have a normal day with an unbelievable event being shown to us on the news. I live in the middle of the U.S. and only remember listening to the news on the radio at school at certain times. other than that I had a normal day on September 11, 2001. over the years I've learned of new things about that day and how it affected people, but nothing has come closer to showing me what actually happened. Now what is truly amazing is that the story is not shown through the eye's of a made up character that is simply inserted into the situation (such as Pearl Harbor) but is told by many different actors and actresses who portray actual people who went through it. no names that I no of are made up or changed. each actor or actress portrays a real (living or dead) person. I honestly don't think Nicholas Cage or anyone else can be called the "star" of the movie. just about every character has as much importance as everyone else in the movie. sadly this leads to the only problem I think the movie has... under developed "people" (as there are no characters). you never get to learn enough about everyone as you would like so that you would care about them more, yet even that is understandable because many people portrayed in the movie are still alive and well. I don't think they want people invading their personal lives. so by all means, see this movie. it is undoubtedly an important film in the history of American cinema.