The trailer for the Oliver Stone movie,
World Trade Center movie, will be shown during previews this weekend. And Paramount Picture will have a warning before it plays, given how some people were upset when the Flight 93/United 93 trailer came out in March. In fact, some theater chains will be posting signs to warn moviegoers. Well, Gothamist hopes it's a sign warning them that the trailer is terrible. World Trade Center is based on the accounts of two Port Authority police officers who were trapped under WTC rubble; Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena play the officers, Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal play their wives. Story and casting aside, the trailer sucks on these grounds:
- It has one of those treacly, cornball musical scores, you know, it's like something out of a Hallmark movie to Make. You. Feel. Like. You. Have. Had. A. Moving. Unbelievable. Experience. And. That. You. Must. See. This. Movie. It makes the trailer seems half a step away from one of those "In a world where bad things happened to good people" cliched movie trailer lines...
- The trailer cuts from horror on the streets of downtown Manhattan to a woman (maybe Maria Bello) tenderly hugging fresh laundry for support - we don't know why it bothers us so much, but maybe because imagery is so overwrought
- All the dialogue seems stilted and hokey - again, maybe not an issue with the movie itself, but in the trailer, it's like a lead weight
Maybe the trailer will play well in parts not near NYC, but it really seems to trivialize what happened, to assign emotions to an event many people already have very strong emotions about. When Gothamist thinks about September 11, we don't have a sweeping soundtrack telling us to cry playing. We hope there's more naturalistic use of sound in the movie, because the trailer is telling us in big letters not to see it. Luckily, at the very end of the trailer, there is something that looks good: A cool shot of Cage and Pena under the rubble, and the camera pans up. Well, Paramount will have until August 11 to release another trailer.
Watch the trailer and tell us what you think. And the film was shot mostly in LA, with some exterior work in NYC.
