Pun Salad

I remember when Oliver Stone was named to direct this movie, the dread was palpable in the rightwing fever swamps I hang out in. Surprisingly, Stone plays it utterly straight and conventional here, constructing a paean to the bravery of ordinary people on September 11.

The movie concentrates on two Port Authority cops trapped in the WTC rubble and how their families await word of their fate. And that's the major problem with the movie; absent the 9/11 context, this isn't that interesting a story. But the sharp focus on a few individuals tends to lose that context.