World Trade Center - Review

Oliver Stone's World Trade Center is best described as a very thin yet captivating slice of what happened to a group of Port Authority Police Department officers who on the terrible morning of September 11, 2001 attempted to help trapped occupants in burning towers.

It wasn't what I expected - I hadn't read any reviews - there was no portrayal of what happened aboard the planes or much footage of occupants caught in the Tower but instead the movie concentrates largely on PAPD officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno who survived the initial collapse, their struggle to stay alive, the singular effort by a retired Marine to rescue them and how their families were affected during those 24 hours. It's almost a completely apolitical film which is stunning for an Oliver Stone creation.

If anything there's a few moments where the film inflects patriotic, e.g., when Marine Dave Karnes says,

"They'll need good men to avenge this."

Other thoughts:

- It is a touch long at 129 minutes
- Nice cameo by Nicholas Turturro.
- It is a bit disconcerting that Maggie Gyllenhall plays Allison Jimeno, the wife of officer Will Jimeno. Maggie has opined that the United States has "done reprehesible things and is somehow responsible [for 9-11]." Please keep that woman away from heavy machinery.
- Maria Bello is transcendantly beautiful.

Worth your time.