Starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello

Written by: Andrea Berloff

Directed by: Oliver Stone

out of

Too soon?

our good, God-fearing and CHRISTIAN nation! He should be burned at the stake as a heretic…no! Even better, let’s crucify the bastard! That’ll show them that there is no we can trust someone so batshit crazy, who happens to be an accomplished director, from getting anywhere near Ground Zero, for he would just shit over the memories of all those who died with his crazy, whacked out “conspiracy theories”. Oh, and ‘Alexander’ sucked balls.

Well, while I can definitely agree on that last one, I think the rest is being a tad bit presumptuous, with an extra side of sarcasm of course. Yes, Oliver Stone may be crazy and a little paranoid, but hey, ‘JFK’ is a great film. Russell Crowe is a belligerent drunk. Tom Cruise fell of the sanity wagon years ago, but he’s a terrific actor. And Roman Polanski is a wanted felon, that doesn’t mean that ‘The Pianist’ isn’t one hell of damn masterpiece of a movie. Now, we all avoid movies because of the people involved. Nearly anything with the words ‘written by the Wayans’ brothers’ sends me screaming for the latest McG film fer Chrissakes. But there’s a difference: Oliver Stone is a good director, and knows when to apply the kid gloves when it comes to film-making. In fact, it’s quite a change of pace to see him shoot a straight movie, no crazy animations anywhere. Well, maybe a tripped out shot of Jesus…but besides that!

And yes, he tells a story. There’re no crazy left (or right) winged conspiracy theories to be found, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief. However, if you want conspiracy theories, I can point you in the right direction. Just ask! = )

I work about a block away from Ground Zero, and usually take lunch outside in the pavilion area that’s across the street from the site. On most days, it’s just business people

eating, tourists laughing and most people walk by the site, just glancing at it, as if they had seen it all before. I never went when there was still rubble to be had, and admittedly, I did not even realize that was Ground Zero till about two weeks into my job. Today…the place was sobering. There were three bells sounding off at intervals. People flocked the streets. They hung signs, said prayers to themselves and their loved ones, all the things one would normally do. It was tense, and despite the low murmurs of voices, I could almost swear it was completely quiet.

We all know what happened five years ago today. Hell, how can we possibly forget? Both for its emotional impact and the fact that we hear ‘9/11 this’ about every other word out of you-know-who’s mouth. But I digress. We all know where we were that day. It was just another Tuesday for us. And it was just another day for John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena). However, while some of us complain about the Tuesday Blues and what time we’ll make it home, these two ended up wondering: will I ever see home again?

Being human, we always have to compare things! The obvious question to ask is: ‘Is this better than ‘United 93’?’ Well, from the rating, you can clearly see the answer. However, the two complement each other in ways beyond just retelling true events that day. Whichever movie came out first was bound to be a pseudo-flop, given the nature of the subject matter and our “too fucking soon” mentality we have these days. And now having watched both 9/11 films, I’m glad ‘United 93’ came out first, because it was the superior movie and, in telling things in such a dry, documentary like manner, paved the way for us to more easily accept another movie about that fateful day. ‘United 93’ took a ton of flak, and flak is something this movie does not need any of, because it is not strong enough to stand alone. It needs ‘United 93’ to prop it up.

‘World Trade Center’ lives and dies on the shoulders of these actors, who portray two of the twenty survivors from the wreckage. The inclusion of real people who struggled through this catastrophic event serves as the anchor for the ensuing drama. Had this been say, ‘Pearl Harbor’, where characters were inserted and arcs created for them, the movie would lose a lot of its dramatic punch simply because what we’re seeing, while grounded in a true event, simply never happened. Nicolas Cage, who plays a tough, family loving Port Authority sergeant, reminds you why he earned that Oscar eleven years ago. Since he’s trapped under a ton of rubble, his usual spastic persona is channeled all into his big, bright eyes. And he speaks volumes with them. He can beaten down one minute, then, with just a blink, become a caring, soulful man looking for a hand to help him. Michael Pena, long since a television actor, breaks into the big time as Cage’s fellow trapped officer and brings that rookie charm and impatience to offset the grizzled McLoughlin’s blue eyed glare.

But Steve! You seem to be gushing about this movie and the actors, why did you only give it three shots then? Because, when the movie is focused on John and Will, it’s a well told, claustrophobic tale of finding the strength within another person to just get by one more minute. It’s when we pull away from the WTC that the movie falters, and we start following their wives through their own personal darkness as they confront the very real possibility of raising kids without their father. Unfortunately, the scenes not only drag on, because once you’ve seen one scene, you’ve seen it all (and they have to show you them twice, once for each wife), but they feel kind of tacked on. The first thirty to forty five minutes of this movie is wonderfully crafted slow burn, focusing on the two police officers, we know what’s going happen to them, but we’re enthralled. As soon as we cut to the wives, some of that tension is let out of the tires. Maybe I was expecting more of a ‘Ladder 49’ kind of thing, where the family ties and emotions are drawn through flashbacks, not concurrent storylines. Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal do well with what their given, but did anyone else feel like the writer took a page out of ‘We Were Soldiers’? Husbands trapped in a desperate situation…the wives have to sit around and worry.

I hate worrying. I hate seeing people worry.

That’s not to say that there are not some added subplots that, while I appreciated the gesture. Most notably the story of the ex-marine who goes to Ground Zero and finds our two protagonists. When I first saw his character, I was like…’Okay, random cutaway’, but he had a very great character arc that I felt helped showcase the enduring American, nay, human spirit in all of us.

Thankfully, it never strays from Cage and Pena for too long. Their situation keeps escalating, going from bad to worse to downright hellish. Exhaustion, internal hemorrhaging, falling debris and the fact that they’re underneath a very rickety structure serve to ratchet up the tension to eleven, making their inevitable, and touching, rescue, all the richer, for we have now shared a part in the lives of these two men. Together, we were able to experience what they did, even if it was but a shadow of the real thing. And the message they tell us? Even amidst such evil, hope and goodness can be found. No governments, no crazy fanatics, no ideologies, no religions, no ‘us’ and no ‘them’; just two guys stuck in a hole who only have each other to count on.

‘World Trade Center’ suffers from the problem of being, really, two movies crammed into one. One is a gripping story of survival, the other is a rather run of the mill family drama centered around potential situations. And while filled with great moments, the film never ferments into something richer than its parts are. All the pieces are in place, so why isn’t the puzzle finished? It “could” have been a great film, but the story it wanted to tell was either too rich for its timeframe, or too narrow. And with a name like ‘World Trade Center’, would anything less than the big picture do? There are a lot of stories to tell that day, and while this one is told all slick and commercial, I don’t think it deserves to be called ‘World Trade Center’.


    I don’t think any movie is worthy of such a title.