Review: World Trade Center

Posted by: Tom Milroy  •  August 9, 2006 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

There's a problem if your name is Oliver Stone: when your name is attached to a movie, people expect certain things. Controversy, for one. There is nothing controversial about this movie, but Paramount would have you believe otherwise, if only to create buzz and make more money.

There is nothing wrong with World Trade Center, but there's nothing great about it either. This is not Mister Stone's fault. After all, everyone knows what happened on September 11th, 2001.

We are also told this is a movie about survivors. So, we know Nicolas Cage as John McLoughlin lives. Michael Peña plays the other suvivor, Will Jimeno. Both are employed by the Port Authority. Maria Bello is Cage's wife and Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Peña's slightly batty wife.

Stone does a great job, without getting overly graphic, depicting the claustrophobic conditions endured by our heroes. As well, the movie does not take long to get started. In other words, within the first 15 minutes, the twin towers are attacked and we get down to business.

There were many heroes that day, but with World Trade Center, Oliver Stone is a survivor, not a hero this time.