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WORLD TRADE CENTER Send This Review to a Friend
There is no need for a hypothetical disaster film when it comes to “World Trade Center.” Life has produced its own disaster, and Oliver Stone, basing his film upon real events, has made a riveting film that focuses on two trapped Port Authority cops, the heroic efforts to save them and the hours of tension and terror endured by their families. From this intimate story amid the rubble we are meant to extrapolate the larger picture of the horrors of 9/11, emphasized at the end by notations of the widespread death toll.
“World Trade Center,” scripted by Andrea Bérloff based on the true life events of John and Donna McLoughlin and Will and Allison Jimeno, is an ode to heroism and courage in the face of catastrophe. There’s suspense, to be sure, involving a harrowing rescue operation, but this film is more salute than action drama. Director Stone, choosing reality over manipulation, has told a straight story juxtaposing the men trying to stay alive after being buried by debris and scenes involving their loved ones desperately clinging to hope.
There are moments when family reaction clichés kick in, but nothing seems exploitative. There’s reason to spare for histrionics, given the magnitude of the destruction and toll. Nicholas Cage as McLoughlin and Michael Peña as Jimeno carry the brunt of the drama as they talk to each other, voice their hopes and have visions of family they fear they’ll never see again. Both actors are basically restrained, making their physical and emotional ordeal convincingly scary.
Equally convincing are Maria Bello as Donna McLoughlin and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Allison, the wives who wait. Donna and John have been having marital problems, which provides an extra element of fear of loss without having worked out their difficulties, while Allison and Will are expecting another child, which adds a dimension to Will’s possible doom.
The larger picture of the cityscape of destruction has been hauntingly realized with effective cinematography, special effects and editing, and the overwhelming devastation has been encapsulated with just enough evidence not to detract from the film’s basic intimacy. “World Trade Center” is an honorable step in what inevitably will become a stream of works stemming from this terrorist assault and its aftermath. A Paramount Pictures release.
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