Online Film Critics Society
Home     About OFCS     Member Profiles     Schedule     Forum     Awards
    O.F.C.S. Members: Sign In    

O.F.C.S. Members

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
OFCS Rating: 61% Fresh
Page  
  > Next

"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
OFCS Rating: 61% Fresh
Page  
  > Next


Reviews database provided by Rotten Tomatoes and the Movie Review Query Engine

powered by ROTTEN TOMATOES
All articles and reviews on this website © the respective authors.
All other content © The Online Film Critics Society (0.16)