Movie
At its heart World Trade Centre is the story of Will Jimeno
and John McLoughlin, two New York Port Authority Police Officers trapped in the
rubble of the World Trade Centre after its collapse on 9/11. It is portrayed in
three parts, alternating between Will and John and their struggle to survive
under the rubble, their families and their reactions as they try to find out
what happened to their husbands and lastly the rescuers, mainly Dave Karnes,
who travelled from Connecticut to New York to look for survivors and Scott
Strauss, a paramedic who helped in the rescue.
Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin’s part, trapped under the
rubble is well played out by Michael Peña and Nicolas Cage respectively,
especially considering that their scenes were pretty static and were mostly
limited to eye and facial expressions. On the other hand you have their wives’
side of the story, which is all colour and movement as a stark contrast to
their almost total darkness. Granted there is the odd moment or line that seems
somewhat cheesy spoken by one of the side characters, Maggie Gyllenhaal and
Maria Bello give strong performances as they each struggle to deal with the
events and the possibility that they may never see their husbands again. Karnes
on the other hand does come across somewhat as a stereotypical Christian soldier
off to save people on God’s will and finally to head off to Iraq, but that is
probably due to the lack of information on some of the rescuers when the film
was made.
Stone’s underlying message throughout is one of hope and
belief in your fellow man, which you see in the various interchanges between
characters. Such as Will & John struggling to keep each other alive, John’s
wife and her meeting with the woman at the hospital or the lines of officers
and fireman who lifted the two of them from the remains of the World Trade
Centre.
Some of the most striking moments are the montage sequences
at the beginning and the end, similar places and musical scores but set on
either side of the attack, showing the stark contrasts between the normal day
and the day after.
Craig Armstrong also does some good musical work on the
film, such as with the haunting sombre melody that plays during the quieter
moments, which are often the most emotional.
The fact the film is all based on the testimonies of the two
officers, their families and people involved means that it is mostly accurate
with little modification. This also means that the film works better being
watched again after learning of the factual side of the story. This is
highlighted in some parts, such as the loud cracks you can hear before the
towers collapse which are the bodies of those who tried to jump from higher up
hitting the ground or Dominick A. Pezzulo firing one last shot into the air to
alert somebody before he died instead of apparently trying to commit suicide.
The film comes in the now standard 16:9 format and is of a
high quality though there is a slight grain or shadowing in places, which is
probably down to the filters used for certain scenes. The sound is also of a
high quality and comes in DD 5.1 Surround, which, is used well as the sound in
the film is important for immersion, with the bass being used sparingly for the
collapse scenes.
Extras
Audio Commentaries:
The film comes with two commentary tracks on the first disk,
one with director Oliver Stone and one with the real life Will Jimeno And
Real-Life Rescuers Scott Strauss, John Busching And Paddy McGee. Stone’s
commentary is mostly technical in nature, providing information on the
background of the film and the filming of it, while the second track is
comprised of the views of those who were actually there and explains background
information on what actually happened and extra information about each part.
Deleted & Extended Scenes:
This is a collection of scenes taken from the film, they do
fill in some background information with the characters but aren’t vital to the
film and would have messed with the film’s tone or pace.
A Three-Part 'Making Of World Trade Center' Featurette:
This featurette is split into ‘Committing to the Story’,
‘Shooting in NY and LA’ and ‘Closing Wounds’. Each focuses on different parts
of the making of the film, filled with interviews with various people. The
interviews are of two main types, the crew who talk about their parts and how
they worked on the film and the second being people who were there and their
comments on what happened and how it relates to the film.
A Two-Part 'Common Sacrifices' Featurette:
The two parts of this featurette are ‘Rescue’ and ‘Recovery’
and is another collection of interviews, but this time focussing on the people
portrayed in the film, their story about what happened and a lot of information
about Will and John and what they went through during and after 9/11.
Building Ground Zero - A
Visual And Special Effects Featurette:
This featurette tells about
the work involved in creating the effects shots used in most parts of the film,
from photo studies to 3d scans of the area and how they used those to build the
backgrounds to various scenes.
Oliver Stone's New York – Featurette:
This is an interview with Oliver Stone in New York and
involves him talking about his growing up in New York up to his career in
films.
Theatrical Trailers & TV Spots:
Theses two sections contain the full theatrical trailer as
well as a few teaser trailers shown on TV.
Photo Gallery:
This section contains a collection of photos taken on the
set of World Trade Centre, as well as a few of Will and John and their
families.
Overall
This is a thoroughly heart-warming tale of two men and their
struggle to survive, counter pointed by the stories of their families and
people involved in their rescue. I’d recommend getting the 2 disk edition as
the extra features on the second disk provide some really good information on
the film and give a greater understanding of
the film and the characters in it.