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| Jerry Saravia... |
 Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:45 pm |
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WORLD TRADE CENTER (2006)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: Three stars and a half
Oliver Stone is known for his fire and brimstone approach to
filmmaking where every point is made with a hammer yet loaded with an
emotional ferocity. His best films ("Platoon," "Born on the 4th of
July," "JFK," et al) pop with such exuberance and emotional power that
they become more than films - they are vivid portraits of calamitous
events painted with a human face. "World Trade Center" is definitely a
powerful film but its approach is not as incendiary or full of layered
images upon images in the typical Stone style post"JFK." This time,
Stone takes a backseat to visual and aural overload because this
survival story doesn't need it.
Set on the early morning hours of 9/11/01, we follow two Port
Authority cops, Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) and John McLoughlin
(Nicolas Cage, at his restrained best), as they prepare their daily
routine of awaking in the wee hours of the morning and traveling from
Long Island, NY and New Jersey to Manhattan. Jimeno is the average cop
on the lookout for a missing person. McLoughlin is the sergeant who
commandeers his unit, and has kept a close eye on the World Trade
Center since the infamous 1993 bombing. Of course, he has never dealt
with the enormity of the situation at hand - two planes have flown
into the World Trade Center. A major rescue mission is at hand but how
on earth can they rescue people when the towers implode and crumble to
dust while they are in the WTC lobby? Both Jimeno and his partner and
friend, Dominick Pezzulo (Jay Hernandez), are stuck with McLoughlin
under the rubble of smoke and debris and the occasional fireball.
Pezzulo is eventually crushed to death, leaving only Jimeno and
McLoughlin to talk to each other about their families so they don't
fall asleep and possibly die (keep the brain active, as they say, so
you don't fall into a coma).
Oliver Stone has not made a conspiracy film about 9/11, so don't go
expecting a paranoid, political twist on modern events on the order of
Stone's "JFK" or "Nixon." Stone has crafted something here that is
akin to "Platoon" and "Salvador" in its individual story of survival.
The difference, in the case with this film, is that it is an
apolitical story of two protagonists who serve to protect and are in
dire need of protection from certain death. Stone and writer Andrea
Berloff also evoke the complications of almost losing someone on that
dreadful day through the protagonists' wives. Jimeno's loving pregnant
wife (astutely and honestly played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) is an
emotional wreck who is waiting for the call that says Jimeno is alive
and has been rescued. McLoughlin's wife (exceedingly well-played by
Maria Bello, sporting striking blue eyes) tries to distance herself
from the catastrophe, hoping McLoughlin is alive yet realizing that
their love of each other might have soured prior to 9/11.
"World Trade Center" is essentially a story of strength and survival
in the most dire and inhumane of catastrophes. It doesn't exploit the
9/11 tragedy but merely embodies it, as seen through the eyes of two
heroic cops who did their damnedest to help others. The scenes of
Jimeno and McLoughlin trapped in the rubble are about as intense as
you might expect in an Oliver Stone film (despite discussions on "G.I.
Jane" and a vision of Jesus, which the actual Jimeno saw). And also as
expected, the scenes between the wives and their families glued to the
TV screens, waiting to hear good news, are emotionally devastating. In
fact, Bello and Gyllenhaal have scenes of such unparalleled power that
you will grow more than misty-eyed - they are affecting in such a deep
way as to make you remember how the day affected just about everyone.
I am a fan of Ollie Stone's critical dissent on politics but, this
time, I can say I am glad he found the nerve to tell a simple survival
story through the prism of 9/11. Some say Stone may have lost his
touch and cleaned up his paranoiac fervor. Not so. How many filmmakers
would dare to make a film about 9/11? Exactly.
For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at:
http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/Jerry_at_the_Movies.html
BIO on the author of this page at:
http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/index.html
Email me at Faust668 at (no spam) msn.com or at faustus_08520 at (no spam) yahoo.com |
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