wtc: the movie

My review in one word? Disappointing.

Last night, Carolyn, Kevin and I went to see the World Trade Center. Considering how deeply September 11 affected me, I thought that I would be moved. The only thing that touched me emotionally during that movie were the CNN clips that were interlaced throughout. It brought me back to that day, glued in front of the TV, watching in horror.

Otherwise, the movie was pedestrian.

The movie did not provide information. The movie did not have a message. The movie did not espouse theories. The movie did not have characters that we felt for. The only "theme", if you want to call it, is that the blackest day of the 21st century can bring people together to be heroes. But the way Stone delivered it, it was like a brass candlestick to the head: Said in a voice-over by Nick Cage during the last five minutes.

In addition, there were some overt patriotism and religious messaging that I found incongruous with Oliver Stone in general. I think Oliver Stone was trying too hard not to be Oliver Stone. In doing so, he didn't deliver a tribute, he made a TV movie. In fact, I was insulted that he was riding on the emotional residue of 9-11 to carry the heart; it didn't even feel like he bothered to make us care, because he knew that we would.

I'm not always an Oliver Stone fan, but one thing about his movies is that they are usually powerful, dramatic. This was just boring. I'm shocked that the critics have rated this so high. Maybe its another one of those PC things where you can't pan a movie b/c its about our country's greatest tragedy. Which in itself, is a tragedy.