Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Andrea Berloff
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Jay Hernandez, Danny Nucci, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Michael Shannon, Stephen Dorff, Stoney Westmoreland, and Frank Whaley.

Plot: Based on the true story of Port Authority Officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughin, who were trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center buildings when they collapsed.

Review: The 9th of September 2001 is a touchy subject and when it was announced there were not one but two films (World Trade Center; United 93) being made about the attacks there were more then a few people who thought it was to soon. I wasn’t one of those people, I thought five years was plenty of time before making tasteful movies about 9/11. Now after watching World Trade Center I can see what people had a problem with because although World Trade Center is a respectful well made film, it hits you hard, right in the gut with a constant stream of strong emotions and I can only imagine how hard it would be to watch if I had lost someone in the attacks.

World Trade Center is a disaster movie (The Day After Tomorrow, The Towering Inferno) except that it doesn’t have their highs and lows, it doesn’t suddenly have an action sequence thirty minutes after the disaster. World Trade Center is best described as the scene from your favourite disaster film where one of the main characters dies, only two hours long. This can turn people off and sounds like a bad film but truly it’s not. World Trade Center is a well directed, well written and well acted film but it’s greatest point is that it is a Hollywood dramatisation of a true story that alters it just enough to get your average popcorn eating movie goers to enjoy it but not to much to make it disrespectful or crass.

So should you see this film? Yes, it gives you a perspective of the victims and family of the victims that you haven’t seen before, it will tug on your emotions and will make you a little claustrophobic. Is it the better 9/11 movie? No, I don’t think so but that is up to personal preference, the previously release United 93 plays out more like a news re-enactment then a film and will have you cheering for the passengers even though you know they’re not going to make it. So I think the average movie goers will prefer World Trade Center, but if you are looking for something different, something more original I would recommend United 93.

World Trade Center

The Good:
Great Acting.
Touching scenes.
Dramatised style.

The Bad:
At times feels a little to much like a “Disaster film”.
The constant dread can be a bit much.
Not as original and thought provoking as United 93.

Score:
3/5