Substitute cynical nit-pickings for the harrowingly immersed experience

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2006)

Although there have been at least a dozen movies made about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Oliver Stone's massive take was the first one to cross that line between quiet, humble documenting to loud, unabashed movie-making when it came to presenting his perspective on the unforgettable day. Frustrated with what many saw as a total lack of that very perspective (coming from the conspiracy ridden, anti-government lens of Stone) many found World Trade Center to be nothing but a cinematic slushee, a predictable yarn to patriotism, some cinephiles even suggesting as an overt attempt to mend broken fences with many viewers after the epic financial failure that was Alexander. While this film for the most part does not display any of the traits we have come to know Mr. Stone for adhering to in the past, we are still given an uncompromising film in it's patriotic induced fervor placing, instead of paranoid theories, two fact-based accounts told straight from the officers and wives who went through some of the harshest ordeals during the attack.
The real life events, as shown through NYC port officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, usher the viewer through an unparalleled view in and underneath all the vast chaos that had kept the world captivated to their television sets days on end. Played by Nic Cage and Michael Pena, these beat cops are given a loving tribute as the microcosm to the thousands of good city workers who fought through this disaster, and the few who unflinchingly ran into the heart of darkness, as if only driven by instinct to protect a fellow human despite the surmounting odds against their favor. Basically it is this emotional sentiment which, lingering in all the haunting imagery captured for this film, overrides any overt exploitation or apathetic conflict that more cynical viewers have complained about. There are moments in the film that I would imagine would be entirely too hard for many people directly associated with September 11th to watch; Stone wastes no time carving out the cinematic vision he saw taking place for these two officer's lives that day. While there are numerous examples of how he might have gone too far and dramatized the reality of that day in a way that would be insensitive or uncomfortable to the relatives of any victims involved, this overall cathartic triumph of human spirit ultimately wins out, in turn prompting some of Stone's most focused direction in many moons.
I've never had the urge to rag on Nicolas Cage, it has been a pleasure seeing him evolve his craft over the years, but where that evolution ended seems to be apparent, replacing genuine character acting with the wide-eyed, over-eager line delivery he has indulged in so much lately. Here, although playing most of the time as low key and subdued as anything he has ever attempted, I still only saw this character as Mr. Cage with a uniform on top, unlike the lesser known Pena, who perhaps due to that very obscurity, gets away with playing a cop more authentically. For this genuine love letter to NYC and the American soul that the movie aspires to be, it was a tad disheartening to see this main role outsourced for star power, rather then playing it more realistically low-key in the spirit of all of these average-joe city workers, of which the eccentric star actor has a difficult time even pretending to be. Only distraught housewife Maggie Gyllenhaal, in all of her beautiful flights of insanity, justified the star recognition for her perceptive performance. Despite the many small factors that prevented the film from becoming the definitive classic that it may have been striving for, WTC details the twin tower's collapse more passionately then anything we will probably see for quite some time, making it the definitive 9/11 film experience for less ashamed moviegoers.