On the morning of September 11, 2001, a messenger sings 'Happy Birthday to You' to his daughter, a billionaire argues with his wife in a divorce hearing, a maintenance man begins his day, and a young Russian decides she's breaking up with her sugar daddy. When the first plane hits the World Trade Center, these five elevator passengers find themselves trapped. Forced to band together, they fight against all odds to escape before the imminent and inevitable collapse occurs.
9/11 trades on the emotional weight of its namesake day, manipulating audiences into feelings that have nothing to do with the mess that is actually on screen.
Even if the film relies too much on the real-life horror of the actual event to loan it some gravitas, the performances touch the emotions honestly and deservedly.
Not the out-and-out disaster it looked to be, this well-meaning 9/11 drama is instead overwrought and acerbic and doesn't really make the connection between its fictional situation and the real one.
By invoking September 11th, this movie is announcing that it has something to say... it's the film equivalent of a guy loudly demanding the attention of everyone in a subway car, then refusing to even issue a compellingly strange rant.
Now comes a new movie that uses the tragedy as heartracing backdrop, but has absolutely nothing to say about it, wielding the horrors of that day with all the subtlety and grace of a promoted brand tweet.
