Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Review: World Trade Center.

I didn't want to see it. I looked for another movie to see while LWC went to see this. All I could find was Talladega Nights. She said she'd rather see that with me than WTC by herself. So I decided to take a chance (since I knew what TN was gonna be) and see what Ollie Stone cooked up for us.

It was okay, I liked it more than I expected. The movie's title is a misnomer, since it's not about all the events of the day, it just focuses on two men and their families. The story itself is amazing and fascinating, but I don't think the film should have been called World Trade Center. Maybe Two Guys Stuck in a Hole. Something better than that.

The movie is completely apolitical (the perps are called "bastards" more than once, and that's it). It's also like the buried alive sequence from Kill Bill except that it lasts for two hours. This is not a way to get "feel good movie of the summer" from claustrophobic me.

Nick Cage was excellent. There was no trace of hipster doofus in his performance, and it had to be tough acting in those circumstances. Michael Pena, the other lead, is also terrific. Other performances from wives and families also very good. The special effects were thunderously wonderful.

It was schmaltzy and boring. LWC said she felt like leaving twice, just because it was so drawn out. As an Oliver Stone flick, it wasn't overly preachy and pushy, although there were a couple weird sequences (don't want to give too much away).

3 comments:

Aussie-Askew said...

No interest in this one, but all the reviews said that UNITED 93 was a phenemonal retelling of the day - good UK director probably helped. Thats what I have been saving my "9/11" movie-energy for. Seen that one?

Shocho said...

No, I didn't see United 93, even though I believe those people were absolutely the finest kind of heroes. Like I said, I didn't even want to see WTC. Not that I'm "not ready" for this stuff, I just usually like not-so-serious fare. When Dan Burns first glanced at my Top 100 movie list, he said with his patented deadpan delivery, "Lot of comedies."

DEATH_BY_MONKEYS said...

Comedies are better. WTC was good though. Much better than I expected.