Review of World Trade Center (2006) by Stuart K — 27 Apr 2014

Directed by Oliver Stone, whose upfront and confrontational brand of film making gave him notoriety. With this true story based on what happened when the Twin Towers fell, it could have been another attack on American politics, but it's not.

This is sensitive and very suspenseful tale of survival, and it shows a different side to Stone, one he's been dabbling with ever since. On September 11th 2001, Port Authority Police officers John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Peña) notice a plane flying low over Manhattan.

McLoughlin and Jimeno accompany many officers to the scene, and by the time they get there, a second plane has hit the other tower. McLoughlin and Jimeno work fast to get people out of the North Tower, but while they do that, the tower collapses, leaving them trapped in the elevator shaft.

Their wives Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) struggle to come to terms with what's happen, and just hope that their husbands are still alive under the rubble. This is a very good film, and this isn't Stone talking down to us, he's asking us to observe this tale of survival.

He could have done a dark expose of 9/11, blaming Bush's government for it all, but he doesn't. It's Stone's most sensitive film to date, and one that shows not everything he makes has to be riddled with anger.