World Trade Center (2006)
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A team of Port Authority police officers becomes trapped beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.
The story
On September 11, 2001, members of the Port Authority Police are dispatched to Downtown Manhattan in response to the North Tower of the World Trade Center having been hit by a plane. The officers learn en route that the South Tower was hit by another plane. Sergeant John McLoughlin, a veteran of the 1993 bombing, assembles a group of volunteers to retrieve rescue equipment from Building 5. As the five officers prepare to enter the North Tower from the concourse, the South Tower begins to collapse onto them, forcing them to take cover in an elevator shaft.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
On September 11, 2001, Port Authority Police officers are dispatched to the World Trade Center. Sergeant John McLoughlin assembles a team to retrieve rescue equipment, but they are caught in the collapse of the South Tower. McLoughlin, Will Jimeno, and Dominick Pezzulo are trapped beneath the rubble. Pezzulo is fatally injured and dies after firing his sidearm to alert rescuers. Jimeno and McLoughlin spend hours pinned under the debris, sharing stories of their lives while their families search for them. After the collapse of Building 7, they survive but remain trapped. Two Marines, Dave Karnes and Jason Thomas, eventually locate them. After hours of effort, Jimeno is rescued first, followed by McLoughlin, who is in critical condition. Both undergo extensive surgeries; McLoughlin is placed in a medically induced coma. Two years later, the men attend a barbecue with their families. The epilogue reveals they were two of twenty people found alive at Ground Zero, specifically numbers eighteen and nineteen.
- First release year
- 2006
- Runtime (minutes)
- 129
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Oliver Stone
- Writers
- Andrea Berloff · writer
- Cast and characters
- Nicolas Cage · John McLoughlin; Michael Peña · Will Jimeno; Maggie Gyllenhaal · Donna McLoughlin; Maria Bello · Will Jimeno's wife; Stephen Dorff; Jay Hernandez · Dominick Pezzulo
- Genres
- docudrama; disaster
- Themes
- heroism; tragedy; survival
- Tone and mood
- positive; muted
- Premise and plot tags
- based on actual events; disaster; 9/11
- Source material / true-story basis
- experience of a team of Port Authority Police Officers during the September 11 attacks
- Reception
- The film was met with generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $163 million worldwide.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 66% · review count: 234; Metacritic · score: 66 · scale: 100 · review count: 40
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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