Veers off course sometimes, but generally hits all the right notes and is great for it

Rating: 9/10 (23 October 2006)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
September 11, 2001 (a day that was always going to get made into a feature film and what better time to do it than on the fifth anniversary.) A day that started as ordinarily as any other. People woke up in the morning, kissed their families goodbye and headed out to earn another honest day's crust and to go about their business as ordinarily as they ever would. None of them had any idea about the unthinkable events that would unfold as the day went on. When the first planes hit the building, a rescue mission was launched headed up by firemen and some brave members of the NYPD. They go in to rescue those trapped in the rubble, only for the building to come crashing down around them, trapping them underneath. This story focuses on two of those trapped, Captain John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Seargent Will Jemeno (Michael Pena) and their never-ending hope and determination to survive as those on the outside struggle desperately to bring them out alive.
As I said, it was only a matter of time before a film depicting the events on that fateful day in September of 2001 was made. And what better time to make it than on the fifth anniversary?
Notorious Hollywood hack Oliver Stone, a man who's made his fare share of greats in his time, from JFK to Platoon, but who has also made some quite rotten stinkers including Natural Born Killers and Any Given Sunday, to his credit pulls off the job at hand very well here. The films falters sometimes, but generally it avoids verging into sappy sentimentality and flag waving and instead just concentrates on crafting a poignant, realistic, engrossing, believable and effecting portrayal of events as they likely panned out on that day. It's not quite United 93 we're talking here and it's not quite as good as that film but, thankfully, it's not far off.
He gives the film a dash of gloss and reverence but I don't think Nicolas Cage was the right man for the job in the lead role here. Portraying a real life character in a real life event, he can't relate his snazzy, eccentric edge he gives his characters to the role, and comes off as a bit forced and restrained as a result. Thankfully, the supporting cast manage to keep things alive and kicking in the background, providing a raw edge to how the characters they are playing must have felt on that awful day.
The film pulls no punches and goes all out to provide a true and accurate account of what happened on that day and how those involved reacted to it. Sometimes it falters and becomes a little sentimental and mushy, especially towards the end as the script starts to run out of steam a little, but generally it keeps things going very well and has given Stone a more appreciative place in my conscious when he could very well have made a big and offensive mess of it as he has in the past. ****