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Published on Wednesday, August 9, 2006 - 9:06am |
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Capone has a look at WORLD TRADE CENTER!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here. It goes without saying that Oliver
Stone is an easy target. For whatever reason (because it certainly isn't
because his movies are no damn good), he is a whipping boy among many film
critics and at least one half of the political demographic of this country
(probably more). I'll admit, there's a part of me that wants to rewatch
Alexander just to see if it's as god-awful as I remember it. When I consider
Stone's bull-in-a-china-shop approach to directing and existing, it makes
him an unlikely candidate to use kid gloves in a film about the downing of
the World Trade Center towers.
But World Trade Center isn't really about the big picture. Its focus is a
small, extremely narrow sliver of the world on September 11, 2001. In fact,
huge chunks of this film take place in just a few square feet occupied by
two very brave and lucky men, buried under tons of rubble. This is a film
made up almost entirely of small, intimate moments, and thanks to a
remarkable cast and a story almost impossible to get wrong, Stone pulls off
about half of a great movie.
I do not suffer lightly a director trying to manipulate my emotions with the
subtlety of a sledgehammer. A film can be well written, acted, shot, edited,
and directed, but when I feel a filmmaker is inventing drama for the sole
purpose of an emotional reaction from me, I rebel and resist. Obviously, 95
percent of all romantic comedies fall into this category, and, granted,
movie making is about manipulation. But there are levels. The movie is based
on the real-life story of Port Authority police officers John McLoughlin
(played by Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), and even when he's
sticking close to the facts, Stone's manipulating is undeniable.
Most of the scenes that you've seen in the trailers--men in rescue worker
helmets and coats running for their lives as the towers literally fall down
on top of them--are taken from the film¹s first 20 or 30 minutes. These are
rapid-fire sequences that don't need any beefing up, and Stone handles them
perfectly. As McLoughlin and his crew attempt to organize a trip up one of
the towers to look for survivors, they hear loud crashing sounds above them.
At first you think it's debris; then you realize the sounds are the bodies
of those who jumped out windows rather than be burned alive in the towers.
The rescue workers force themselves to not think about what those sounds
mean, and it becomes clear right away that it simply never occurs to anyone
that the towers will fall.
But once the towers fall, the movies shifts gears and becomes two very
different endeavors. If Stone had maybe pushed a little harder (and the
studio been a little more brave), this could have been a film about two men
trapped under tons of rubble, talking to each other for hours on end in an
attempt not to fall asleep and die. Despite their close proximity to each
other, McLoughlin and Jimeno can't see one another; they are both pinned
under rubble, so the most we even see of them are their head, shoulders, and
arms. If ever you doubted Cage as a powerful actor (and why would you?), see
World Trade Center. What he does with just his voice and face is truly
incredible and moving.
Not to take anything away from the equally gifted Pena (who has had smaller
roles in Crash and Million Dollar Baby, as well as a fantastic one-season
stint on 'The Shield'). His performance is perhaps even more difficult
because his character seems more alert and slightly more mobile than Cage's.
As strange as it sounds, he also serves as the film's one source of comic
relief. Even with death staring him in the face, Jimeno is cracking jokes
just to keep the two men talking.
When your lead actor barely moves for three-quarters of the film, there's
not much room for manipulation, and the images of these two soot-covered men
will stay with me a very long time. Your mind can't help drift into thoughts
of 'Is there any possible way I could survive what they are going through?'
And the minute you put yourself in the characters' body, the film owns you.
Unfortunately, Stone frequently wanders from these men and into the lives of
their families, and I'm not knocking any of the performances of those
playing family members, who, for many long hours, are fairly certain their
men are dead. The always-perfect Maria Bello plays Donna McLoughlin, while
Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jimeno's wife, Allison. The problem with these
sequences is that they feel utterly conventional, as if they could have been
directed by anyone in line to make the next 'very special episode' of some
crap series on the Lifetime network.
I don't doubt that this is exactly what these families went through, but
seeing it re-enacted doesn't add anything to the inherent drama of these
moments. If anything, it robs the power of the scenes under the rubble by
taking us away from them. Yes, we learn about the thoughts going through the
heads of these two men struggling to catch each breath, and naturally, they
are thinking about their wives and kids (Jimeno's wife was pregnant at the
time). The scenes of the families offer tension, passion, and lots of
screaming and crying, but what they don't offer is relevance, and what they
don't add is weight to the situation at hand.
Perhaps more interesting but not necessarily any more pertinent are the
half-dozen side plots involving men and women from across the country who
found any means to get to New York and help search for survivors (there were
only about 20 people pulled alive from the rubble). My personal favorites
are played by Frank Whaley and Stephen Dorff, as the first men who actually
crawl into the unstable rubble to find the trapped officers.
When this year is done, I have no doubt that United 93 will be in my top
five of the best films of 2006. There¹s just never been another film like
it, and the timeliness of its release made it all the more riveting and
necessary. As a record and representation of an event that still leaves so
many hurt and angry, World Trade Center is a far easier pill to swallow. Its
edges are rounded; its emotions are largely uplifting; and Stone leaves all
sense of politics and grandstanding somewhere else.
There are times during World Trade Center where you can feel Stone
force-feeding us sentimentality, and when that happens, the movie falters.
There is nothing more powerful or gripping than the story of two men in what
they believe are the final hours of their lives. When Stone sticks to
telling that story, World Trade Center is a thing of beauty. So am I
recommending the film? I am, but not without some major reservations. The
one good thing about the family scenes being so weak is that they don't
stick with you long enough to ruin what is so good about this movie. This is
a very good movie that missed being a great movie by so little.

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Reader Talkback
First by Renholder | Aug 9th, 2006 09:26:03 AM | Does anyone really think Stone
is done... by JohnGalt06 | Aug 9th, 2006 09:30:13 AM | The world saw evil that day.
Two men saw something else by Engineer_at_peac | Aug 9th, 2006 09:35:55 AM | Re: "The always-perfect Maria
Bello" by RetroActive | Aug 9th, 2006 09:44:11 AM | admit it. by occula | Aug 9th, 2006 09:44:19 AM | The Naudet Brothers 9/11
docu... by BankyEdwards2309 | Aug 9th, 2006 09:47:41 AM | Another clueless WTC review by Deep Cover | Aug 9th, 2006 09:55:50 AM | This movie looks like crapola by Spiderhulk | Aug 9th, 2006 10:02:50 AM | jayjew by Lost Prophet | Aug 9th, 2006 10:10:42 AM | jayjew's video is 9-11
footage, Benny Hill style by Deep Cover | Aug 9th, 2006 10:15:47 AM | I'm either seeing this or
Ricky Bobby... by Bean_ | Aug 9th, 2006 10:19:59 AM | This or ricky bobby!? by JoeyRusso1290 | Aug 9th, 2006 10:30:16 AM | For Jayjew by malcolm_mccallum | Aug 9th, 2006 10:34:33 AM | Malcolm by Lost Prophet | Aug 9th, 2006 10:39:16 AM | Seen it by Furious Granger | Aug 9th, 2006 10:46:56 AM | Anything Benny Hilled is funny by CyberVishnu | Aug 9th, 2006 11:01:29 AM | Isn't it about time by redshirt | Aug 9th, 2006 11:17:45 AM | didn't they do that by Lost Prophet | Aug 9th, 2006 11:19:05 AM | BankEdwards is Correct... by abominate | Aug 9th, 2006 11:19:07 AM | Hey, Nice Beaver. by mrtwig48 | Aug 9th, 2006 11:30:01 AM | GalleryChappe by Mr Nice Gaius | Aug 9th, 2006 11:54:15 AM | 2006 = 9/11 mania running
wild! Cash in time boys! by Orionsangels | Aug 9th, 2006 12:17:35 PM | Malcolm by PantherMatt | Aug 9th, 2006 12:50:18 PM | PantherMatt by malcolm_mccallum | Aug 9th, 2006 03:07:29 PM | Best Stone flick... by deadlegend | Aug 9th, 2006 03:17:57 PM | Best Stone flick? by Mechasheeva | Aug 9th, 2006 03:30:26 PM | Mechasheeva by deadlegend | Aug 9th, 2006 03:33:39 PM | Jayjew... by Harysuxafat1 | Aug 9th, 2006 04:11:29 PM | Malcolm by PantherMatt | Aug 9th, 2006 04:13:05 PM | 1/3rd of Americans Do Not
Believe The Official Story.. by pockybot | Aug 9th, 2006 04:42:44 PM | Best Stone movie by DoctorWho? | Aug 9th, 2006 05:55:15 PM | Platoon will forever be Stones
best movie by Orionsangels | Aug 9th, 2006 06:42:19 PM | Inside job- lets manipulate
our emotions even more by FinalSolace4 | Aug 9th, 2006 06:50:03 PM | Your right Finalsolace4 by DoctorWho? | Aug 9th, 2006 07:08:35 PM | Saw World Trade Center
today... by vinceklortho | Aug 9th, 2006 07:39:22 PM | the best recent movie on the
events of 9/11... by JimmyJoe RedSky | Aug 10th, 2006 12:27:42 AM | Stone sold out by tHEmOOG | Aug 10th, 2006 01:23:27 AM | by FinalSolace4 | Aug 10th, 2006 04:19:03 AM | oh by the way doctorwho by FinalSolace4 | Aug 10th, 2006 04:21:58 AM | jayjew by readingwriter | Aug 10th, 2006 06:10:43 AM | pockybot and the rest of by Lost Prophet | Aug 10th, 2006 06:17:54 AM | Stones next WTC movie by cookylamoo | Aug 10th, 2006 09:42:43 AM | I don't need to see or
relive this by Hate_Speech | Aug 10th, 2006 11:56:14 AM | I saw this movie last night... by Jar Jar 4 Prez | Aug 10th, 2006 12:07:26 PM | FinalSolace by DoctorWho? | Aug 10th, 2006 02:03:03 PM | "Salvador" is a great Stone
flick by BigTuna | Aug 10th, 2006 06:46:34 PM | Manipulating your emotions by thecheesegrommit | Aug 10th, 2006 07:55:32 PM | and so is "Talk Radio" by drugstore cowboy | Aug 10th, 2006 07:56:27 PM | Harry - please ban by Spangler | Aug 11th, 2006 02:54:42 PM | Worst day in ameican history by qithasn13 | Aug 12th, 2006 04:02:32 PM | DEVASTATING!!! by williamD | Aug 13th, 2006 09:08:58 PM |
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