It's understandable that a lot of people do not want to see this movie. Most people will be one way or the other... either really wanting to see this or really not wanting to see this. I can't imagine many people just saying "meh... maybe I'll see it on a whim."

Shortly after 9/11, the aspiring filmmaker in me decided that years and years from now (which is now then), I want to make a movie about 9/11. I thought it would be much longer until it was acceptable to make a film about the day, but times change and people change. I now think that it was the right time to make this movie. I didn't know the story about the officers the movie revolves around, but the movie is just how I imagined it would be. I don't have to make this film anymore. Oliver Stone did and he did it well. 

And first off, let me go ahead and commend them on the use of "Fix You" by Coldplay in the trailers. It worked perfectly.

There's a big question mark when people ask if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is going to honor the two 9/11 movies, United 93 and World Trade Center, with nominations come the first of next year. The answer would have to be... maybe. I think they have just as good a chance as any other movie. It just depends on the competition. I think voters will give them an equal chance and I do think there is a possibility that due to the subject matter, they might be even more favored. But the fact is, both are excellent films.

Oliver Stone managed to make a film that in just about every frame manages to disguise itself as a film made by any other director. His movies are usually politic-heavy and aggressive. This is not. The film is powerful. For me, as an American who experienced the day as much of the rest of the country did, it was like reliving the experience without the horror. You already know what happened, so you aren't exactly horrified watching it. But you do go through the emotions that you had that day... anger, bitterness, sadness, worry, anxiety.

For the first part of the movie, leading up to the collapse of the first building on top of the officers, you are very anxious. The closer it gets to happening, the faster your heart beats. Everything is how you would imagine it would've been if you had been there. An ordinary day, then that happens.

After the collapse, you get to know Nicholas Cage and Michael Peña's characters and their families very well. Cage and Peña do a great job portraying these real people... and yet, they are stuck in the same position using only their face and voice to do the acting. Michael Peña is stellar in this role. He was excellent in Crash, but he's even more  wonderful in this. He is very dynamic when he can't even move. I hope he is remembered come Oscar time. 

The wives are played by Maria Bello (Cage's wife) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Peña's). Both are very good and do excellent jobs of portraying the angst of not knowing where your husband and the father of your children was or even if he was alive. The beautiful Maria Bello transformed herself, putting in contacts and gaining weight so that she could capture the softness of her real-life counterpart. Maggie Gyllenhaal turned me into a fan of hers. I was never crazy about her, especially her politics. But she assuredly captured the reality of her role.

Jay Hernandez was another who gave a good performance. His role was smaller than the others, but he was still very convincing and pulled off a great accent.

The movie is paced nicely, although if you don't pay attention to details and to the depth of the performances and settings, you mind might wander off and later complain that it was too slow. Honestly, that would be your own fault.

The film definitely works. The writer worked very closely with the families and so what you see is pretty much what really happened. This is not the type of story that you can get away with fudging any of the structure, so they didn't. They kept it real.

It's difficult to watch, emotionally, but it's worth it. The emotion of this event could not and should not have been left out, and it wasn't.