"World Trade Center"
First Look
In Theaters August 9, 2006
On DVD December 12, 2006
Read the Oliver Stone interview
Wild About Movies publisher, Tim Nasson, sat with Nicolas Cage, star of "World Trade Center," a day before he started filming, last winter. "It's going to be an overwhelming experience. I know that," he said. "But this movie is not a gratuitous film. It's about two people, trapped in the rubble of one of the fallen towers, who find a way to survive. That is what the movie is about. A survival movie."
We catch up with Academy Award winning actor and two-time Academy Award winning director, Oliver Stone, at the end of July for an exclusive sit down interview. Stay tuned!
Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone tells the true story of the heroic survival and rescue of two Port Authority policemen – John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) – who were trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, after they went in to help people escape. The film also follows their families as they try to find out what happened to them, as well as the rescuers who found them in the debris field and pulled them out. Their story shows how the best in people rose above the tragic events of that day.
Who better than Oliver Stone to get his hands on this material - or worse. He did The Vietnam War correctly, twice - "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July." But he botched the wars of "Alexander." Can Stone do justice to the War on Terror? Stay tuned. Wild About Movies interviews the entire cast and "World Trade Center" two-time Academy Award winning director - Oliver Stone, this summer.
The movie's release will mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on The World Trade Center.
STARRING: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Brad William Henke
DIRECTOR: Oliver Stone
STUDIO: Paramount Pictures
RATING: PG-13
World Trade Center - the horrors and heroism of 9/11
Reviewed by Audrey Shine
This is not your usual Oliver Stone, smash box, conspiracy-theory, thought-provoking panorama of extremes. First of all, it is shockingly free of political commentary. It doesn't cut to the chase with Stone's usual direct, visceral punch. Maybe it's because the script was written by a woman (Andrea Bertoff), or maybe it's because we aren't ready to relive the horrors of that day . Some people think that it is too soon to have a movie about 9/11. Others think that it is time to remind the world of the heroism and sacrifice of seemingly ordinary Americans, just doing their job, who spent 9/11 saving lives, and risking their own.
WTC is the first movie to deal with events of that terrible day in 2001 when we thought that WWIII had dawned in New York City, Washington, and a little known town in Pennsylvania. This movie can't help but introduce it's subject with real scenes of the disaster (warning here for those who can't stand to see the planes plow into the buildings or people falling to their deaths) and the surreal reactions of the victims. But it moves on to be an exposé on the randomness of life and death, and the needs and desires that keep us moving along these unseen paths. World Trade Center faces the day head-first, with no ramblings about why or how this could happen in the USA.
The story itself is as positive a story that the events of 9/11 allow. It has a "happy ending." Nicholas Cage's portrayal of John McLaughlin is as real as it gets - no frills, no contrivance. At a minimum it will earn him a nomination for Best Actor. Michael Pena as Will Jimeno brings his best humor, despair, and hope to the nearly impossible situation. He may deservedly walk away with Best Supporting Actor. The entire cast is impressive as veterans such as Maggie Gyllenhaal, Donna Murphy, Stephen Dorff, and Frank Whaley take on the emotions and movements of those trying hours. The character and sub plot of Staff Sargent Dave Karnes, played hauntingly by Michael Shannon, added a previously unknown and inspiring back-story to the film. Stone recreates Ground Zero in convincing detail, though the reality, I'm sure, was infinitely worse.
World Trade Center probably isn't Oliver Stone's best movie. But it is his or anyone's' best tribute to the fallen heroes of 9/11/2001. Grade: A
WATCH TRAILER
See the Complete 2006 Movie Release Schedule
