There is a surprising lack of controversy as well as sensationalism in World Trade Center, at least for a trademark Oliver Stone film. Instead of raising pressing questions like in his masterpiece film JFK or sensationalizing an American obsession such as in Natural Born Killers, Oliver Stone tells this story of senseless death and destruction with a straight face--like a grim but determined newscaster on the unfortunate day of September 11th, 2001.

The crashes of the planes are never seen throughout the film--not dramatized in true Hollywood fashion like we've come to expect from summer blockbusters. Instead we see and hear merely what everyone else heard and saw that day: footage of the aftermath, clouds of thick gray smoke and falling debris. Everybody hears things and feels the effects of the crashes--but throughout the film, the destruction itself remains a mystery. Was Stone prudent in his decision not to show the devastation as if it were a predictable special effects extravaganza like Titanic? I can neither applaud or criticize his decision. It was his decision to make the film, no doubt motivated by art and commerce--not necessarily out of concern for the victims or the ailing nation. Stone recently refused to donate more than 10% of the film's profit to survivors of the attack, and also refused to use the film as a public awareness tool to prevent future disasters. Yes, it was a film motivated by art with the intention of making money--and everyone else in Hollywood does it. Stone did the "safe" thing, and waited a few years before making his film. Therefore, the film itself deserves an impartial review regardless of the motivation and despite the fact that it was seemingly marketed to exploit our grief.

By art alone, the film works even while not moving us into any certain direction or realizing any grand epiphany. It is simply a film about death, grief, survival and the power of the human spirit. It is slightly more effective as film making Prozac than the medicine cabinet of B movies that you'll find on Lifetime Television For Women. This is because the grief, the sentimentality, is not contrived--it is real. Tragedy is unexpected in real life and exists regardless of our own personal preferences. The performances are very well done. Nicholas Cage and Michael Pena give impressive true-to-life performances without hamming it up or begging for our sympathy. The worry and grief of their respective families (led by Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal) is also striking without being a heavy-handed distraction.

There's little to dislike about World Trade Center, just as there is nothing you can truly say in criticism of the many victims and heroes that were discovered in the aftermath of the tragedy. The movie does showcase the spirit of sacrifice, honor and strength--strength not necessarily as a country, but as a human civilization. It shows man at his best, at his worse and near his death, hoping in all things honorable and godly.

Whether audiences should see this movie is another matter. The film is about September 11th grief and reconciliation, nothing more. However, as a nation, and as individuals, we received both grief and reconciliation the same day the tragedy happened. (Remember when congress sang to us? That was reconciliation apparently) Nobody dared to make a film the first two years because it felt like it was too soon. The fact that the studio waited four years to make a film, and that the heart of the story is grief and reconciliation, remains underwhelming. If Oliver Stone wanted to make a movie about the most basic human feelings associated with the event, then I see no reason why he couldn't have made it back in 2002 or 2003. By 2006, while we weren't quite ready to see any 9-11 comedies, I think we were capable of watching a film that probed a little bit deeper into the global ramifications of the attack as well as the preceding events that led up to it.

There were thousands of personal stories about grief to come out of 9-11. The majority of those stories did not have much to offer in reconciliation because there was only grief and unanswerable questions to rise up from the debris. What did 9-11 truly mean, how could such an attack have happened, and what would this tragedy do to the American psyche? Perhaps a filmmaker with a better sense of timing and a little more courage will answer those questions in the future. With this film, Stone merely echoed the sentiments of a thousand grieving Americans four years too late with his Get Well Card. Grade: B