Powerful and Emotional

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2006)

This movie wasn't my first choice to go see in theaters. However, I decided to go when the original movie I'd wanted to see was sold out...I'm glad the other one was sold out, that's all I have to say.
Oliver Stone does a great job of depicting the aftermath of the first plane hitting the North Tower, and the PA officers' reactions. It had probably been similar to the incident many years ago when a biplane accidentally hit the Empire State Building, or in recent times, the private plane that hit the apartment complex. It was most likely seen as a simple, harmless incident. Or not.
I was on the edge of my seat during the slow-motion sequence in which you see a side-shot of the PA officers running for the elevator shaft in the underground complex next to the Towers, and the debris from the collapsing tower pouring in through the doors, and then the shaft collapsing at their feet. It was nearly enough to make me close my eyes when the second tower collapsed, for I knew the story of what eventually happened to the third officer that attempted to free McLoughlin and Pezzulo.
I was also struck by the unique way this movie introduced the characters: McLoughlin naming off all the officers that would assist him in evacuating the towers. I thought of Flight 93 during that sequence, in which the characters were introduced by close-ups of their plane tickets.
The conversations between McLoughlin and Pezzulo in the rubble were moving, as were the sequences with the Marine that eventually rescued them (although the producers hadn't known that the Marine wasn't a white guy.) Every bit of this movie was well-thought-out and touching. It's one aspect of 9/11 that hardly anyone knows or cares about. Most of the movies that are made about 9/11 are about the planes. To be frank, I'd never heard of the incident before I saw the movie.
I would recommend this movie to anyone, although it may be emotional and intense for some. It's a powerful, heart-wrenching film that (almost) made me cry. No American that wants to learn more about 9/11 should miss out on this movie.