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Movie Overview
Cast
Nicolas Cage
Michael Pena
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Director
Oliver Stone
MPAA Rating
PG-13 - for intense and emotional content, some disturbing images and language.
World Trade Center (2006)
REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
OTHER
(1 - 50) of 54
OFCS Rating: 61% Fresh
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"The movie's real mistake is to take as its focus the single least unusual aspect of September 11--the fact that the murdered and wounded loved their families and were loved back."
Blogcritics.org
Alan Dale
C
"There's no questioning the importance of this story, but it is a shame that Stone has chosen to be so manipulative with our emotions."
FromTheBalcony
Bill Clark
3.5/5
"In fact...
World Trade Center
is one of the few cinematic efforts that wants to accurately recreate the confusion and chaos that derives from unexpected disaster."
DVD Verdict
Bill Gibron
5/10
"This account of the horrors of 9/11 feels counterfeit, compromised, and flat -- sadly, it is an ill-conceived and generally unaffecting tribute. "
Freeze Dried Movies
Brian Juergens
A
"In a sense, it is blatant, clichéd hero worship, but Stone earns this impassioned interpretation through his care and respect behind the camera for the characters and the gravity of the situation."
FilmJerk.com
Brian Orndorf
C-
"Oliver Stone has gone against his famous character to make a syrupy and gruelingly flat cinematic ode to two brave policemen (John McLoughlin and William Jimeno)..."
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
"Karnes' announcement is an outsized, quintessentially Stoneian moment, burdened with mythic meaning and, not incidentally, reintroducing the political context the film has so strenuously resisted."
PopMatters
Cynthia Fuchs
4/5
"The images of the smoking towers are already planted in our heads, but the hope and courage that enabled the cops' recovery are not as well-known. Stone deserves credit for leaving the conspiracy theories to others."
eFilmCritic.com
Dan Lybarger
3/5
"
World Trade Center
is moving, tender, and disappointingly shallow."
eFilmCritic.com
David Cornelius
B-
"Weighing in on "World Trade Center" is difficult; it's well-crafted, but it's also sluggish and meek."
EDGE Boston
David Foucher
2.5/4
"Strip away its 9/11 backdrop and Oliver Stone's
World Trade Center
is little more than a primetime domestic potboiler about a couple of NYC cops buried under rubble."
rec.arts.movies.reviews
David N. Butterworth
3/4
"...emotionally resonant and thoroughly compelling..."
Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
"... a thoughtful, sensitive and ultimately despairing film that avoids both nut job proselytizing and sugarcoated sentimentality."
Portland Tribune
Dawn Taylor
B
"... opts for a discreet, quiet and dignified way to show the tragedy and to take away from it something that was uplifting."
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
2/4
"
World Trade Center
comes close to being the self-serving Hollywood production many had feared."
TheMovieBoy.com
Dustin Putman
C
"It's not too soon for a 9/11 movie, but it IS too soon for one that brings it up for no reason."
EricDSnider.com
Eric D. Snider
1.5/4
"A failure at the most basic levels of cinema and its inability to make me feel ANYthing, when any single still image of that day can induce the fear of God, is inexcusable."
eFilmCritic.com
Erik Childress
B+
"The film's sincerity makes it impossible to toss around accusations of hokeyness, either "on paper" or in one's own mind; context is everything, and in this context blunt assertions of heroism and near-sainthood are easy to swallow."
Film Blather
Eugene Novikov
3/4
"Well,
World Trade Center
delivers the piercing pathos and reminds us once again that Stone can make the transitional move and be both inventive and viably affecting."
Movie Eye
Frank Ochieng
C
"Well-intentioned but equally disappointing...
United 93
is harrowing and authentic; this picture is earnest but old-fashioned, obvious and curiously plodding."
One Guy's Opinion
Frank Swietek
4/5
"Salutes the courage and lovingkindness of those who reached out in the darkness to help others on September 11."
Spirituality and Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
3.5/4
"
World Trade Center
is Stone's most potent motion picture since
Platoon
, and may be the most accessible across-the-board since
Wall Street
."
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
2.5/5
"The resulting film plays more like a made-for-TV movie projected on the big screen than the product of one of America’s most dangerous filmmakers tackling a day of infamy."
Q Network Film Desk
James Kendrick
2/4
"Oliver Stone's take on one of history's most notorious and devastating days is white-washed with the sentimental veneer of the Lifetime Channel."
Aufmuth.com
Jeanne Aufmuth
6/10
"The movie means well, and we can appreciate the sentiment; it works on the level of heartbreaking spectacle, but it doesn't add more to our wisdom."
Window to the Movies
Jeffrey Chen
3.5/4
"Perhaps the least likely candidate among American auteurs to make this particular 9/11 movie, Oliver Stone delivers a satisfying portrait of Americans’ ability to weather the storm."
MovieMartyr.com
Jeremy Heilman
3/5
"These are voices that deserve to be heard and that there are filmmakers like Stone willing to hear them is more important than anything that might follow."
FilmFocus
Joe Utichi
4/10
"Literally, everything
United 93
wasn't."
Planet Sick-Boy
Jon Popick
2/5
"click to read full review in Greek"
Movies for the Masses
Joseph Proimakis
4.5/5
"They aren't superheroes. They are afraid. It's OK to be afraid - to not be afraid would be stupid or insane. Courage is feeling the fear and acting anyway, and that is what these men did."
Cinerina
Karina Montgomery
2/4
"Stone's talents (and his occasional profundity) lie in juxtaposition and bombast, in a breathless, ragged montage."
House Next Door
Keith Uhlich
3/5
"we need to have these kind of movies come out to remind us what happened on that day"
7M Pictures
Kevin Carr
3/4
"If you hold it up against Stone's masterpieces or United 93, it can't help but feel disappointing. But on its own, it's a gripping and emotional film."
Montreal Film Journal
Kevin N. Laforest
B-
"There is no Oliver Stone in "World Trade Center" with the exception of an ill-advised appearance by Jesus Christ in lieu of his usual Indian shaman. "
Reeling Reviews
Laura Clifford
2.5/4
"Beautifully acted and thoroughly myopic, the film manages to strip 9/11 of its context and scope, boiling it down to an intimate story of decent, ordinary people dealt a staggeringly bad hand and dealing with it, each according to his or her nature."
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Maitland McDonagh
3/4
"Packs an emotional wallop. Thankfully, it's all earned and justified."
Movie Habit
Marty Mapes
2/4
"For all its noble intent the film brings to celluloid life makes just about every fear anyone had about a Hollywood treatment of the 9/11 tragedy."
Mr. Brown's Movies
Michael Dequina
3.5/4
"I think they ought to just give Maggie Gyllenhaal the Oscar right now. She's that good."
Aisle Seat
Mike McGranaghan
B-
"There is one scene of true brilliance and shattering impact as a mother waiting for news of her son (Viola Davis) recalls that the last time she saw him she scolded him for missing dinner."
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Nell Minow
3/4
"Stone slyly sneaks virtuoso moments into his story, bringing a modest elegance to a script that frequently feels creakily old-fashioned."
Slant Magazine
Nick Schager
2/5
"Stone hasn't made a movie for a 2006 audience; he's made one for 2036"
Filmcritic.com
Pete Croatto
2/5
"
World Trade Center
eventually stops feeling like a remarkable story of survival and more like a Hallmark Network presentation."
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
3/5
"So factual and earnest that it misses the chance to say something meaningful."
Shadows on the Wall
Rich Cline
2/5
"No particular reason to exist other than to garland itself with medals for telling an Uplifting True Story About Good Men."
eFilmCritic.com
Rob Gonsalves
D
"Who wants to feel good about 9/11? I sure want to feel good about 9/11!"
Flipside Movie Emporium
Rob Vaux
B
"It manages to find the best in people in the worst of times. You gotta love that."
Laramie Movie Scope
Robert Roten
B+
"[Oliver] Stone gives us an old-fashioned suspense story that pays homage to bravery and survival."
Reeling Reviews
Robin Clifford
4/5
"It's plainly evident that all of the filmmakers approached the subject matter with appropriate honor and respect. (In other words, this movie is no
Pearl Harbor
.)"
DVD Clinic
Scott Weinberg
"Even when Stone is clumsy, he at least seems to recognize that he can't possibly re-create the experience of these policemen: The best he can do is put it onstage, reminding us that this happened to someone else and not to us."
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
B-
"Sometimes this kind of writing can evoke unaffected sincerity; other times, it seems merely trite, perhaps reflecting the inexperience of first-time feature screenwriter Andrea Berloff."
Decent Films Guide
Steven D. Greydanus
(1 - 50) of 54
OFCS Rating: 61% Fresh
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