World Trade Center (HD DVD, 2006, 2-Disc Commemorative Edition)

This movie is good, if you think of it in terms of just a movie about a building collapsing on a few people. The movie focuses completely on the events surrounding the entrapment and rescue of a handful of people. Not that their story is heart-wrenching, but this movie was NOT about 9/11, it was about a small group of men caught in the rubble of the WTC.

There was too much about 9/11 that wasn't touched. That was incredibly dissapointing. I was expecting more about the attack, not just a search and rescue.

World Trade Center will have you close to tears if not in tears at moments, but looking at your watch at other moments wondering how long the movie is.

I'm glad that I finally saw it, but I would have been upset if I'd payed any more than the rental price to see it. I won't be buying this one.

I bought this movie thinking it would have lots of action and that it would look amazing on my HD-DVD player. It does look amazing on it, but along with nice action and picture came a story i will think of for a long time. This movie makes you cry and angry at the same time. At the end of this movie, you will smile and then snarl. I wanted to join the military just to go kill the people who did this to us. I advise everyone i know to watch this movie. This is a must have movie.

Never exactly a timid sort of filmmaker, even Oliver Stone must have felt like he was walking into a no-win situation in making World Trade Center. Coming off the critical and commercial drubbing of his (underrated, as far as I'm concerned) historical epic Alexander, the cantankerous director wasn't exactly in Hollywood's good graces, and attaching his name to this particular project seemed like a move designed to upset just about everyone. The event itself still a raw, open wound in the American consciousness, putting the notoriously heavy-handed Lefty in charge of a movie about 9/11 certainly raised the hackles of the 50% of the public on the other side of the political spectrum. On the other hand, the film's trailers were off-putting for even Stone's own fans, looking distinctly like he'd sold out his values to play nice with Hollywood, churning out a feel-good "triumph of the human spirit" glorified TV Movie of the Week. However, the finished product turned out to be not quite what anyone expected of it. The movie didn't win over everyone, but that it could be released to favorable reviews and respectable box office business surprised many, and stands as a testament to the director's talent.
Recounting the true story of officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, the film stars Nicolas Cage and Michael Peña as two NYC Transit Authority cops who, on that fateful morning in 2001, walked into the World Trade Center to help evacuate the building and were almost instantly trapped under debris from the falling towers. Neither of them quite understanding the enormity of what had happened (they both assumed that only the shopping concourse had collapsed), the two men remained crushed and unable to move for a full day before rescuers eventually discovered them, two of only a small handful of survivors to be pulled from the wreckage. In the meantime, we also witness the agony of their families waiting for news and expecting the worst.

The film is a restrained, even-handed reenactment of the single most important event of most of our lifetimes. It's emotional without being maudlin, and respectful without turning sanctimonious. Although the director depicts the bravery of the rescue workers on that day, he doesn't overplay it. These men were heroes simply for having the courage to walk into the building, but never actually had the chance to save anyone. They were trapped before they could even get off the ground floor. Stone also resists the temptation to force any great political messages, focusing instead on capturing that specific moment in time when all of America awoke to the realization that their world had just instantly, starkly changed, without anyone comprehending how or why it had happened.

As a movie, World Trade Center really could have been a travesty, dishonoring the memories of those who died by exploiting their losses into a preachy diatribe for the director's political views. Fortunately, that never happens. Nor does it go the opposite route, selling out a tragedy for the sake of shallow Hollywood melodrama (witness Pearl Harbor for example). Is it a masterpiece, or the definitive telling of the 9/11 story? Probably not, but World Trade Center is a fine, worthy drama and probably the best movie that could be made at this time about that day the world will never forget.

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I did not give permission to go in my account , sooner than i thought. I thought i was getting a reagular dvd but i got hd. I was not going to pay for this item until nex week..but you went in my account early and caused a overdraft fee with my bank, not cool at all. You could have emailed me to let me know you were going in on a certain date. I brought this item because , because i always wanted to see the dvd, the movie it self. I was taking a chance buying it off of ebay, which i was very disappointed with the patience of the seller.

a very heart breaking movie. i don't cry at movies easy being a 32 yr man. but my wife , sister in-law, and i all had tears from this movie. although i believe was because we remeber the day the towers fell. and all the emotion from back then of course added to the movie it self. the acting was spot on. i do believe it could have been better with some more new footage like the day this happen. but i can see why they didn't they were going from the prespective from the people at the event not the people just watching tv. in all very good movie i was sheading tears when i saw jesus but laughed because he had a water bottle

Very Cool movie.Purchased this HD DVD becase of the price on EBAY.HD makes the picture unbelivable in its clarity.Only dislike was with seller not leaveing feedback !