This was a tough movie to see and an even tougher movie to review. We saw a sneak preview over a week ago and I’ve been sitting on writing this because it’s hard to judge a film that is about something so national and yet so personal. Unfortunately I was disappointed with Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center.
This is going to be an unusual review, for the reasons that I mentioned above. I think that it is safe to say that this movie is based on an event that happened so recently in our pasts and affected us all so deeply, that we all remember exactly what we were doing that day. For this reason, I had one stipulation for the movie: I wanted to judge it based on its merits as a film, and not on the emotions that I have personally tied up in that day. I knew that it would make me feel something, but if the only emotions I had were because of my own personal memories, then I felt that was not a great film making accomplishment. Sadly I felt this movie failed to develop its storyline in an effective and moving way after the national tragedy of the first 20 minutes.
World Trade Center is about two Port Authority survivors that were in the buildings when they collapsed. The movie follows their perspectives of the day starting with their morning rituals. We spend most of the movie switching between they’re conversations while trapped, their families waiting for news at home, and flashbacks of their lives prior. While I know it is a true and powerful story, I feel it was delivered in as a Hallmark film. It was sappy, slow, and the characters failed to resonate. Even the secondary characters were incredibly weak, almost unbelievable.
Was it too soon? Well if this had been the movie that I hoped it would be, then no, I would not have thought it was too soon. In fact, because we saw this at a prescreening put on by a local radio station we endured 30 minutes of prize giveaways and a screaming, laughing audience. People had not quieted down from their excitement when the movie started and you could still here giggling and talking. My friend and I felt we were the only ones that thought it was really inappropriate before this movie, and I thought to myself, maybe a movie honoring September 11th wasn’t made soon enough.
Since this is a story about survivors, of course the characters live through the event. At the end, we are fast forwarded two years to see their lives are fulfilling, and the idea is that we would feel a sense of hope. I think there is a genuine example of hope when we examine how the country came together to help out after 9/11. I feel it every time I read a story or I see a documentary. I don’t believe World Trade Center accomplished that as a film. I think reading this story would have affected me though, which to me, means the movie failed.
I feel strongly that this movie is being unfairly reviewed because people are afraid of being perceived as “un-American” for not liking it. It was not a horrible movie, but if it was not based on a true event of this magnitude, it would be completely disregarded. For a movie with such potential to be extremely powerful and really inspiring, I was disappointed that it was mostly unremarkable. I give it 3 out of 5.
By Tina Alexander
