WORLD TRADE CENTER

Oliver Stone Written by: Andrea Berloff Based on the amazing true story accounts of that fateful day from John McLoughlin, Donna McLoughlin, William Jimeno, Alison Jimeno Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stephen Dorff, Jay Hernandez, Michael Shannon, Connor Pablo Distributed by Paramount Pictures & United International Pictures Film will be released on September 29th 2006 in the U.K. Review by Matt Holmes

rating: 3

On first hearing that Olivier Stone was to direct a movie based around the events of 9/11, I was sure we would be in for another heavily political and conspiracy charged movie like JFK from America's politically conscious director. Although it's surprisingly void of political acknowledgment, World Trade Center does have Olivier Stone's signature all over it and that's not necessarily a good thing at all. The strangely titled World Trade Center (as it's not really about the building, or the bigger ramifications of that day) was much smaller and tight a film than I expected going on. It depicts the real life and fictional accounts of the harrowing events that befell the two New York City firemen John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) and were very much continuing as we all watched in horror on our t.v. screens on that fateful day of September 11th 2001. McLouglin and Jimeo were two port authority cops trapped under the first tower of the WTC when the building collapsed. The movie is not about the political undertones of the event or the bigger picture of the disaster as in under thirty minutes of the running time, the planes have hit, the towers are down and our two protagonists are stuck under the rubble. This is purely a film about desperation and survival, when all hope looks to be gone. It's about not giving up and keeping the faith in a situation of our worst nightmares. We see the best and the worst side of human faith as we follow their desperate attempts to stay conscious 30ft underground amidst all the rubble and dust whilst cutting back to their families and wives who are distraught with worry and barely holding on to the hope that their man might still be alive. All their story was gripping and deserved to be told on screen, I found WTC way too heavy handed and forced. Unlike the documentary style of Paul Greengrass's amazingly truthful United 93, WTC is clearly a hollywoodised version of the events from a director whose motives are too obvious here. Yes Stone can argue that the dialogue is taken directly from the people involved, this I don't dispute but the way the musical scores are timely placed and the camera utilised... the back and forth editing to create emotion, he is clearly playing with our heart strings to get the response he wants from us with each and every scene. Take the character of U.S. marine Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon) and his subplot of leaving his office job, cutting his hair short and putting on his camouflage to help the rescue effort at ground zero. Yes, true this may be but the way Stone shoots him with many low angle shots and triumphant musical scores you would think he was Rambo or something. You kind of expect some terrorists to appear from the rubble so he can grab a machine gun and shoot them all down, and then light up a cigar. The forced imagery of Jesus and of McLoughlin's imaginary visions of his wife telling him to hold on are so openly looking for a reaction that they completely take you out of the genuinely emotional moments and remind you that you are just watching a movie version of the events and you never really loose yourself like you did with Greengrass' superior film. The bland flashbacks of the cops lives with their families before that dreadful day also become extremely frustrating and you would just wish that the movie focused on the survival and desperation of the two guys trapped "in hell" as they put it. Isn't that drama enough? The performances of the movie are ok but forgettable apart from Michael Pena who adds to his growing resume of superb emotional acting that he showed us in Crash last year. Never have you wanted a character to survive a disaster movie as much as you do for Jimeno. I came out of watching World Trade Center happy that Stone didn't use the events of September 11th to make a politically charged statement but saddened at the same time that he turned the movie into "just another hollywood disaster flick" and not fully doing the harrowing events of that day justice. This tale really did not need glamorising.