Fine Movie on a Bad Day

Question: Can you make a gripping movie about two severely wounded men trapped in the dark, totally immobilized under tons of rubble and unable to speak in anything but broken sentences?

Short answer: You can if you're Oliver Stone, with your filmmaking skills concentrated on World Trade Center and your sometimes loopy political opinions--not to mention paranoia--nowhere in evidence.

The two men in question are John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Peña), and their survival story is true (this is not a suspense movie; it's a study in terror). They are Port Authority policemen, part of an instant-response unit,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!