As a visually stunning tribute to lives lost in tragedy, World Trade Center succeeds unequivocally, and it is more politically muted than many of Stone's other works.
As a visually stunning tribute to lives lost in tragedy, World Trade Center succeeds unequivocally, and it is more politically muted than many of Stone's other works.
audience
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 342,048
Director Oliver Stone once again offers a powerful and provocative story based on real-life events in this drama. Sergeant John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and William J. Jimeno (Michael Peņa) were two officers assigned to New York City's Port Authority who were working their beats on a quiet day in early fall when they received an emergency call. The day was September 11, 2001, and McLoughlin and Jimeno were among the policemen who attempted to evacuate the World Trade Center towers after they
were struck by airliners piloted by terrorists. Both McLoughlin and Jimeno were inside the fifth building of the World Trade Center when the towers fell, and were two of the last people found alive amidst the wreckage. As McLoughlin and Jimeno struggled to hold on to their lives as rescuers sifted through the rubble, their spouses -- Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) -- clung to the desperate hope that their husbands would survive and be found. As the McLoughlin and Jimeno families waited for word on the fate of the two men, they watched as a city and a nation came together with strength and compassion in the face of a tragedy. World Trade Center was based on the true story of John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, both of whom cooperated with producers in the making of this film. Producer Debra Hill died during production -- hence the posthumous credit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
(Director Oliver) Stone has concentrated on one of the catastrophe's stories and has fashioned it well -- with almost palpable physical detail, and with performances that never sink to exploitation.
[T]here's much discussion about whether audiences are 'ready' to see a mainstream movie about the events of 9/11... That's your choice, but you'll be missing one of the best films of the year.
The story of what they experienced is gripping and inspiring, but however true it is to their lives... the way it's told restricts what the movie can say about the larger tragedy.
Despite my strong reservations, World Trade Center is strongly acted and has sequences of undeniable power. At its best it shares with Stone's finest work a feeling for the imminence of death and salvation.
A tentative mixture of tearjerker and disaster movie, cautious due to the requirement that it bear witness to the true-life heroism, staying within the tonal range that is sanctioned for American films depicting 9/11.
World Trade Center is not a great film. It barely passes as a good one. For a film that should have hollowed out its audience, I walked out strangely unmoved.
Very sad as it is true story about the collapse of the Twin Towers. It follows two policemen who are trapped in the basement of one of the towers. Stars Nicholas Cage. There was controversy when the movie came out stating it was too soon after 9/11.
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