Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm having a bit of a difficult time placing this review. It comes off as a little greeny, if you know what I'm saying, but at the same time it makes some valid points on the pieces that don't work. In the end, if I disregarded all the reviews that were positive then we'd all turn into crazy, negative hate-mongers, cynical about every movie that comes out. Plus, I'm really pulling for this one to work. The bit below about the script being perhaps the weakest aspect of the film strikes me as true. The early, non-shooting draft I read was pretty weak-sauce, but in the hour I was onset almost none of the scripted dialogue remained. So, I hope they retooled the script enough to make this movie as touching and as heartfelt a tribute to the true heroes of that day as this movie needs to be. Enjoy the review.

Hey guys, about a week and a half ago, I took my girlfriend to see the latest Pixar flick, Cars. While waiting in line to buy tickets a guy come up to me and asked me if I would be interested in participating in a screening of World Trade Center. We would be asked to fill out surveys when we were finished watching the movie.

So, I attended the work in progress screening of “World Trade Center” in Bloomington, MN last Thursday night. I was not going to write in until I read the review you guys posted from the same screening. I couldn’t believe he was using words like “strictly TV-movie-of-the-week-level.” I think he missed the point of the movie. It seemed to me that Oliver Stone made this movie strictly as a tribute to those police and fire officials that gave their lives to help protect people on 9-11. It is supposed to be patriotic! It does seem like a different Stone though, very restrained. Which I thought was a good approach especially considering the subject matter. There are no MTV style quick cuts. There are no giant conspiracy theories. I would be surprised if it isn’t rated PG-13 when it is released. It’s just a small glimpse into what it must have been like for some of those people involved. It really is the story of John McLoughlin and William Jimeno. The movie also takes its time at certain points. Nothing that can’t be fixed with a tiny amount of editing. The cut we saw has to be close to a finished print. They said the score wasn’t completed yet. I actually thought the temp score they used was very good. It’s pretty close to the music that is used in the trailer for the movie. They also said that we saw it on HD tape because it hadn’t been put to film stock yet.

I thought the acting was top notch. Some of the stuff with Maria Bello seemed a little too much at times, but, she still does a great job. Especially in the scenes with her characters children. Cage’s role is a different role for him. There is no way over-the-top acting like a lot of us have grown accustomed to seeing. His performance is much more subdued. The real star of the movie IS Michael Pena. This guy is awesome. I’ve only seen him in a few things. He was one of the few things I actually liked in Crash, and he was very good a couple of years ago (the Glenn Close season) on FX’s the Shield. I can’t wait to see what he does next. Seeing the guy who plays Ethan on Lost show up as a hero was a little strange. But, anybody who doesn’t watch Lost won’t even notice.

I think the script probably is the weakest part of the movie. But, it gets the job done. I mean it is based on a true story, they are not trying to reinvent the wheel here. There are a few cornball lines thrown in there. But, I think they work, because about halfway through the movie it really needs a few tension releases. The tension and suspense really cranks up, and a few of the cornball lines loosen it up just enough, but, not too much.

Overall I would highly recommend this movie. You walk out of the movie with a feeling of hope. If you’re cynical and think that any movie about a disaster has to end downbeat you will probably hate this movie. Likewise, if you want to see explanations/politics behind the actual disaster. It’s really a fitting tribute to the heroes of 9-11. It is sad and very intense, at the end of the screening it did receive a nice round of applause. Not to mention a lot of tears flowing in the audience. It’s not the perfect 9-11 movie, but it's close. If you use this you can call me MinnesotaFarmBoy.