Critic Reviews
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Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
(Director Oliver) Stone has concentrated on one of the catastrophe's stories and has fashioned it well -- with almost palpable physical detail, and with performances that never sink to exploitation.
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Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Destiny pervades the project, and anyone who expected Stone to toe anything other than the company line was gravely mistaken.
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Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
[World Trade Center] doesn't pretend to encompass the entire catastrophe of 9/11, and that is its great negative virtue.
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David Denby, New Yorker
The world may not make sense anymore, but Oliver Stone, a warrior still, celebrating courage and endurance, has, in his own way, come home.
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Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
[T]here's much discussion about whether audiences are 'ready' to see a mainstream movie about the events of 9/11... That's your choice, but you'll be missing one of the best films of the year.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
The story of what they experienced is gripping and inspiring, but however true it is to their lives... the way it's told restricts what the movie can say about the larger tragedy.
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Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
A questioning artist neutering himself for the sake of uplift
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Matthew De Abaitua, Film4
A tentative mixture of tearjerker and disaster movie, cautious due to the requirement that it bear witness to the true-life heroism, staying within the tonal range that is sanctioned for American films depicting 9/11.
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Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Inspiring 9/11 account too much for younger kids.
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Brandon Fibbs, BrandonFibbs.com
World Trade Center is not a great film. It barely passes as a good one. For a film that should have hollowed out its audience, I walked out strangely unmoved.
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Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
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.
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Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
No particular reason to exist other than to garland itself with medals for telling an Uplifting True Story About Good Men.
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Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound
A loving, respectful, much-deserved tribute.
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Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
Stone rolls out the victim card minus historical context.
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Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
Stone rolls out the victim card minus historical context.
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Mark Palermo, Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
It's 9/11 ingeniously structured as the basis of a Beckett play.
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Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
An emotional and gripping two hours plus that rarely flags.
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Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)
I began to feel as if Stone were singling out the 'decent' people of America and making this story theirs alone.
Read all 18 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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Will Jimeno: Don't fall asleep, Sarge!
"A True Story of Courage and Survival."
World Trade Center is a sad, moving film from Oliver Stone that tells the story from a couple of cops and their families point of view. The film isn't necessarily a thrilling movie to… More
Will Jimeno: Don't fall asleep, Sarge!
"A True Story of Courage and Survival."
World Trade Center is a sad, moving film from Oliver Stone that tells the story from a couple of cops and their families point of view. The film isn't necessarily a thrilling movie to watch in standard terms, but there is a great sense of suspense, especially if you don't know what happens. It's hard to watch at times because the emotions seem so real, but there's no way you'll look away from the screen. This is a story that needed to be told and thankfully it was.
Port Atlantic cops respond to a plane flying into the World Trad Center. There's rumors amongst them that the second building got hit too, but none of them know for sure what is going on. The sergeant decides to take a team into tower one to try to save anyone they can, but as soon as they are about to go up, something happens. They don't really know what, but it leaves most of the team dead and a few of them trapped beneath the rubble. The only way they can survive is by trying to stay awake until someone finds them beneath all of the rubble.
This isn't Oliver Stone's best movie, but it is just like most of his, in that it is extremely important. You'd be surprised to see that Stone doesn't take a political stance on the attacks, which really surprised me the first time I saw it. Instead, he shows us that day from the vantage point of a few cops and they didn't really have any idea what was going on. We almost relive the day as we watch news footage and see everyone crying. It's not a movie about the attacks, but a movie about two cops and their fight for survival.
The cast brings out the most in this movie. I know everyone has their own opinion on Nicholas Cage, but I thought this was one of his best roles in the last 10 years or so. Also, another standout is Michael Shannon as an un-active marine that makes his way to Ground Zero to try to find any survivors. The movie is told with a true sense of humanity and caring about others lives even when it could cost them theirs. World Trade Center is a movie that everyone needs to see once.
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This is one of Oliver Stone's best films. Although not as powerful as United 93, World Trade Center tells the courageous true story of two firemen, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno Two Port Authority officers that were stuck in the debris of the World Trade Center upon the… More
This is one of Oliver Stone's best films. Although not as powerful as United 93, World Trade Center tells the courageous true story of two firemen, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno Two Port Authority officers that were stuck in the debris of the World Trade Center upon the collapse of the towers on September 11, 2001. World Trade Center is good drama that tells the human side of these atrocious acts. Nick Cage is surprisingly good here, compared to his other efforts. Although not as powerful as United 93, which in my opinion is the definitive film on the 9/11 attacks, this is nonetheless a must see film with great performances, a good cast, good directing and a powerful true story. This is of course a hard film to watch, one that will stay with you long after you've seen it. I thought the film played well on the dramatic elements of this real life tragedy without overdoing it. Oliver Stone has struggled with making good films, but this one is one of his best efforts since The Doors and Natural Born Killers. The film is a human story, which in away sort of echoes Stone's Platoon, in the sense it shows the chaos for what it is. But the difference is, is that World Trade Center has a deeper sense of inspiration, a heart within the chaos unfolding on-screen. This ranks among Oliver Stone's best films.A truly unique film, this is a film that will stay with you from start to finish.
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Very sad as it is true story about the collapse of the Twin Towers. It follows two policemen who are trapped in the basement of one of the towers. Stars Nicholas Cage. There was controversy when the movie came out stating it was too soon after 9/11.
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Heartbreakingly poignant! A must see!
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A beautiful movie that will touch your heart, but will test your patience. During the September 11th attacks, John Mcloughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jemeno (Mike Pena) are trapped un the rubbel of the World Trade Center and the film watches there time there, and there familys… More
A beautiful movie that will touch your heart, but will test your patience. During the September 11th attacks, John Mcloughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jemeno (Mike Pena) are trapped un the rubbel of the World Trade Center and the film watches there time there, and there familys suffering. I found the plot to be a great historical drama, but I think it focuses too much on these two guys families and not enough on the details of 9/11. I also think Nicolas Cage was the only bad casting choice in the film, I like Cage, but hes dissappointed me many times. The beautifully scored music was amazing, truly dramatic. The cinematography should be mentioned as well, some great moments. The production of the film was also amazing, it truly made me feel like I was there. John McLoughlin says at the conclusion of the film that 9/11 showed us what a human being can do, that theres evil, but more importantly that it showed how we can work together and shows all the goodness in the world, I agree.
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The emotion of the movie was from the events of 9/11, not the movie. I felt it was kind of inappropriate. So many were effected so deeply, and to focus on so few feels like a sell-out. The guys were preparing to be heroic and caught by the events before they accomplished any actual… More
The emotion of the movie was from the events of 9/11, not the movie. I felt it was kind of inappropriate. So many were effected so deeply, and to focus on so few feels like a sell-out. The guys were preparing to be heroic and caught by the events before they accomplished any actual heroic actions. A movie about the guys that had made it into the stairways would have been much better than this.
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Directed by Oliver Stone, this film based on the tragic events of Sept 11 2001 is told through through the story of two cops and their families.
Whilst it doesn?t share with us anything that we haven?t already heard, it does show us what happened from an inside view and from the… More
Directed by Oliver Stone, this film based on the tragic events of Sept 11 2001 is told through through the story of two cops and their families.
Whilst it doesn?t share with us anything that we haven?t already heard, it does show us what happened from an inside view and from the families on the outside waiting to hear. The realisation is, that there were so many familiar stories here this just showed an insight to two..
I have to be honest here and say, as a story of course it?s something that has affected people worldwide and no-one will forget the events of that day. As a film, however, it?s incredibly dark visually and extremely drawn out. There were times I was so bored I wasn't going to stay with it, but kept in there until the end..
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Not a terrible movie, but it certainly came off as corny and overly important. While I commend Oliver Stone for trying to make a great and powerful film, it just didn't turn out that way. Making a 9/11 movie so soon was just a bad mistake. It's not like Vietnam where there… More
Not a terrible movie, but it certainly came off as corny and overly important. While I commend Oliver Stone for trying to make a great and powerful film, it just didn't turn out that way. Making a 9/11 movie so soon was just a bad mistake. It's not like Vietnam where there was an entire revolution going on and a change of mindset. Most people wanted to forget the incident rather than show how horrible it was. The cast was good and Oliver Stone's directing was as well, but it really should've been used elsewhere.
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It was very good, but it does get very boring!
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World Trade Center is one of the worst films of recent years and certainly the bottom touch in Oliver Stone's career. How Stone ended up from making brilliant films like JFK and U-Turn to here remains a mystery for me and many of us. I guess the downhill started with his… More
World Trade Center is one of the worst films of recent years and certainly the bottom touch in Oliver Stone's career. How Stone ended up from making brilliant films like JFK and U-Turn to here remains a mystery for me and many of us. I guess the downhill started with his overblown wannabe epic Alexander and continues here with even worse results. I am not saying that the topic of this film isn't important or shocking. It is the hyper-sentimental and lazy execution that kills the film. There is actually moment in this film when one of the main characters trapped in the ruins of WTC is nearly dying and suddenly sees Jesus walking towards him! That was the moment when i knew that Stone has gone completely insane or has not taking his medication. I mean come on! What the fuck has Jesus doing in a film like this? Whatever Stone makes after this one, somehow i am not that interested to see it anymore.
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Well done movie, not something I would want to watch over and over,and I found Nicolas Cage pretty bad (as usual), but worth a watch once.
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World Trade Center is way too schmaltzy with loads of mistakes in it too. That quite unforgivable really. Still, its got good acting and is well shot. The DVD extras are quite good too but it?s nothing like Oliver Stone?s usual greatness.
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O GOD this movie is fantastic really good and really well directed at getting what happen in new york across to the rest of the world!!
Really well acted and it jst shows how horrible it must have been in new york and for all those people it is very tearjerking towards the end so it… More
O GOD this movie is fantastic really good and really well directed at getting what happen in new york across to the rest of the world!!
Really well acted and it jst shows how horrible it must have been in new york and for all those people it is very tearjerking towards the end so it shows how well it was done!!
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A lot could be said about the decision to make a movie about these horrible events of 9/11 so soon, when everyone still has those images in front of their eyes. The problem of the film is not that, though. It's the fact that it reduces the crime of the century to a simple rescue… More
A lot could be said about the decision to make a movie about these horrible events of 9/11 so soon, when everyone still has those images in front of their eyes. The problem of the film is not that, though. It's the fact that it reduces the crime of the century to a simple rescue story, that could be told about random fictitious events as well. While the people who worked hard to safe lives that day deserve all the praise they get, it is a thin line to keep it at a decent level below cheesiness. Some dialoges and certain characters of this film, even though based on real ones, are sadly above cheesy. The movie starts promising with images of regular people doing their thing on the morning of that day in New York. It also ends in beautiful images of empty trains, smoke over the city and the "Missing" walls. In between there is very little to keep the audience awake, but a lot of stereotypes and scenes of dirty men in caught darkness. That does not make for a movie worthy of the memory of that day, nor is it worthy of a director the likes of Oliver Stone. The gut-wrenching "United 93" does a much better job in that.
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I know lots of people liked it, but for me it was a boring experience. I'd much expectations from it since it was from the director of one of my best movies JFK. However, this one failed to keep up to my expectations and disappointed me greatly.
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Tough call to criticize this movie, but if I step outside my emotions, I can safely say that this film was very well made, but the pace was sorely lacking in the editing. This movie packs a more emotional punch than most movies you'll see in a lifetime.
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It's amazing how Oliver Stone and crew recreated the trauma of 9/11, especiallly the part when the police arrived at the scene until the part showing the collapse of the towers.
It was as if Stone was actually present at the WTC and took footage. Naturally the scene was… More
It's amazing how Oliver Stone and crew recreated the trauma of 9/11, especiallly the part when the police arrived at the scene until the part showing the collapse of the towers.
It was as if Stone was actually present at the WTC and took footage. Naturally the scene was recreated using special effects and a studio but the effect and danger was undeniably immersive to viewers.
Thumbs up should be given to the screenwriters for faithfully capturing police lingo/language which effectively was not understood by many...which should be.
Still some viewers complained about the use of music, especially with the moment of Nicolas Cage being pulled out from the rubble. The music sounded "too triumphant", especially considering the overall impact of the tragedy.
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With a lot in the media in anti terrorism this is a sad film which will make you sit in front of your tv or plasma screen without worrying about objective political battles, tells the story how it is. I would really recommend watching this with the commentaries by the original fire… More
With a lot in the media in anti terrorism this is a sad film which will make you sit in front of your tv or plasma screen without worrying about objective political battles, tells the story how it is. I would really recommend watching this with the commentaries by the original fire fighters, very moving to the heart and soul.
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A spectacular triumph. Oliver Stone has crafted another tremendous film experiance. Astonishing, stunning and incrediabley remarkable. A drama about the surival and power of the human spirit. This film packs serious emtional punch from one of histories most dramatic and disasterous… More
A spectacular triumph. Oliver Stone has crafted another tremendous film experiance. Astonishing, stunning and incrediabley remarkable. A drama about the surival and power of the human spirit. This film packs serious emtional punch from one of histories most dramatic and disasterous events. Powerful and extroadinary. This film will take your breath away. An outstanding and unforgettable movie. Brilliant performances from it's all-star cast. Nichols Cage gives his best and most compelling performance yet. Michael Pena gives an great performance.
Read all 20 featured audience ratings
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