Sentimental, emotionally meretricious, over inflated crud.

Rating: 1/10 (23 November 2006)

Sentimental, emotionally meretricious, over inflated crud. "Green Berets" rather than "Apocalypse Now". This is how Leni Riefenstahl would have made the film of the Battle of Stalingrad. Having seen other Stone movies and been impressed - at least by "JFK" - I would have expected a film that demanded a more complex emotional response from its audience. Instead, we have what feels like a "Let's make a film about 9/11 while it's still fashionable and we can make some big bucks" movie - "Towering Inferno" meets "Titanic" meets "Yankee Doodle Dandy". This is not a worthy tribute either to the victims of the 9/11 attack or to the named central characters. I came out feeling queasy; as if I had just undergone an excruciatingly callous period of emotional and psychological abuse. Crud. Crud. Crud.