ScreenArt

A bunch of Port Authority police officers hurry to the twin towers site as soon as they hear of the crash. As the tower tumbles, many of these officials are crushed to death and a few of them remain trapped. Of those who hold on are John & Will. The editor cuts between the rescue efforts, which are in full swing, the conversations between John & Will and what's happening between their families. In one of the scenes an officer who is relatively unharmed, deep inside the rubble, comes upto help Will whose legs are crushed under a block of concrete. At that moment, the building crashes further, targeting that officer, who gets hurt very badly. Unable to bear the pain, he kills himself with his gun. After a while, John and Will continue to talk about their families and laugh as if they were in a coffee shop. I'm sure the flow of such scenes must have sounded matter-of-factly and powerful on the paper. But the execution lacks depth, and does not hold the attention of the audience.

Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena don the role of John & Will respectively. Maria Bello as John's wife delivers a powerful peformance. She wonderfully expresses her anxities about the outcome of her husband's fate and her teenage son who just wants to be there. The gifted director Oliver Stone does something new with the World Trade Center - he refuses to use his gifts as a director. It's surprising to see such a product from someone who delivered 'Platoon' and 'Born on the Fourth of July'. There is no emotional punch in the narration - may be it's because of the sentiments associated with 9/11, the director strictly refuses to dramatize the events. But, as a movie, the pace of the plot is pedestrian and for about an hour (of the middle segment) it's also the audience who feel trapped along with those officers.