(Director Oliver) Stone has concentrated on one of the catastrophe's stories and has fashioned it well -- with almost palpable physical detail, and with performances that never sink to exploitation.

[World Trade Center] doesn't pretend to encompass the entire catastrophe of 9/11, and that is its great negative virtue. full review

The world may not make sense anymore, but Oliver Stone, a warrior still, celebrating courage and endurance, has, in his own way, come home.

[T]here's much discussion about whether audiences are 'ready' to see a mainstream movie about the events of 9/11... That's your choice, but you'll be missing one of the best films of the year. full review

The story of what they experienced is gripping and inspiring, but however true it is to their lives... the way it's told restricts what the movie can say about the larger tragedy. full review

Despite my strong reservations, World Trade Center is strongly acted and has sequences of undeniable power. At its best it shares with Stone's finest work a feeling for the imminence of death and salvation. full review

If duty is the operative attitude here, inevitability is the inescapable result, and World Trade Center ultimately finds itself as pinned down as McLoughlin and Jimeno are. full review

It shortchanges audiences when it comes to dramatic revelations that could have resonated on a deeper level. It telegraphs its emotions loud and clear, but somehow they don't reach us. full review

Stone does everything he can to do justice to the real-life people he's depicting, and yet nothing he does can cover up the film's single but overarching weakness: The personal story he uses to portray the larger event is limited in scope and impact. full review

An expertly crafted, respectful piece of inspirational filmmaking.

It displays optimism, patriotism, emotional frankness and faith. Detractors might call it sentimental. Most of all, it exhibits no political slant whatsoever, injecting only heartfelt empathy for the day's many victims and heroes. full review

Obviously, living through 9/11 even at a televised remove, we felt overwhelmed. Now, sitting through the re-creation, we feel something altogether different and yet faintly familiar -- underwhelmed. full review

World Trade Center is beautifully acted down to the smallest role and exquisitely crafted -- it is all but impossible to tell the difference between the computer-generated imagery and live-action sequences shot in Manhattan. full review

Stone defies those who think of him only as a provocateur in making a compact and emotionally charged story that illuminates a Sept. 11 tale few of us know -- and he does it with a respect bordering on reverence.

World Trade Center approaches drama's potent promise, finding in the story of two individuals and their families uncommon valor and common ground at ground zero. full review

Some comedies appeal to our inner child, while some horror movies appeal to our inner masochist. Oliver Stone's World Trade Center poignantly appeals to our inner patriot. full review

Oliver Stone has made an honorable film, in other words, and almost the best thing I can say about it is that it doesn't feel like an Oliver Stone movie. full review

For all its crude effectiveness as a true-life melodrama of survival, World Trade Center doesn't do much with 9/11, except to sentimentalize it for popular consumption. full review

The old Stone was not exactly a bargain, but he was never this pious or this conventional. full review

The filmmaker and his colleagues have brought the sensibility of an old-fashioned Hollywood disaster movie, and a mediocre one at that. full review