World Trade Center film review

certificate_12A

WORLD TRADE CENTER

When it was announced Oliver Stone was proposing to make a film about the events of September 11, there was understandable concern. With credits that include Salvador, Nixon and JFK, it was feared the iconoclastic director might use it as an opportunity to vent his strong political views. Such fears have proved unfounded. Ironically, it's the lack of political bite that is one of World Trade Center's weakest elements. Instead Stone, who received a purple heart serving in Vietnam, has chosen not to apportion blame but to celebrate the heroism of those who went to the rescue of others that day. The result is an overly sentimental, sluggish bore.

That Stone has reduced one of the most significant and dramatic episodes in America's history to a stock Hollywood disaster movie is both sad and disappointing. Where United 93 - Paul Greengrass' far more effective film about 9/11 - avoided establishing a personal connection with the people involved, Stone has taken the opposite approach. World Trade Center focuses on two Port Authority policeman, Sgt John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno, (Michael Peña), who become trapped in the rubble. Andrea Berloff's script, based on the true accounts of McLoughlin, Jimeno and their wives, is centered on establishing an emotional tie with the two men.

The liberal use of flashbacks, depicting all too cute scenes with the two men and their families, the demonstration of their fear and courage amidst the chaos and their remarkable endurance all combine to lay on the sentiment a bit thickly. And with Nicolas Cage's ability to elevate earnestness to new heights, World Trade Center is rather too heavy handed. The sense of contrivance and manipulation is so palpable at times it's all too easy to forget the events being depicted actually happened. It's certainly a far cry from the chilling reality of United 93.