9/11 (2017) Reviews

• We'll Always Remember Where We Were When We Heard They Made a Movie About 9/11 with Whoopi Goldberg and Charlie Sheen

  leftbanker-12017-12-09

  I'm guessing that at some point in the production process of this film someone considered making it a musical, thus touching every base in awfulness. It has Whoopi Goldberg in it so I'm almost sure they at least brought up the idea of a few musical numbers. This movie will make you wish that they had made another parallel film called 9/10 (the day before) in which all of the people simply rode in the elevator and went home, sparing us this 90 minute steaming load. It's just about what you would expect in awfulness and starring Whoopi Goldberg and Charlie Sheen. Many will claim that it is "Too Soon", too soon to have a movie about 9/11 with Whoopi Goldberg, but I beg to differ. Is there ever a right time to have a movie with Whoopi Goldberg? I mentioned that Whoopi Goldberg is in it, right? This was adapted from a community theater play. This film will make you want to run out of the cinema and race towards the nearest community theater in the hope of erasing this memory. At the end there is a line that says the film is dedicated to the blah, blah, blah. You know the rest. Is there anything more completely devoid of meaning and worth that this sort of dedication? What exactly does that mean? The film is dedicated how, exactly? Financially? Doubtful. The only thing that may be even more useless is a moment of prayer.

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• Just bad

  WashyBanjo2017-10-08

  I saw this movie on 9/11 and there was no one else in the theater besides me. The movie felt very cheaply made and Charlie Sheen's performance was pretty laughable. Lots of monologues in this film that dragged on and characters I cared very little about, even if they were supposed to be victims of a real event. The whole concept of a movie about being trapped in an elevator is a bad idea for a movie, adding on top a real tragedy just makes it even more tasteless. Fictional characters don't belong in a movie about a tragedy so recent.

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• Not as bad as you'd think, but still...

  TheBlueHairedLawyer2017-09-08

  This film premiered today, September the 8th, three days before the actual anniversary of 9/11, which to me seemed a little inappropriate. I'm a big modern history buff though so I wanted to see this. It's certainly factual enough, and in all honesty I thought Whoopi Goldberg did a decent enough job in it, but Charlie Sheen gives a talentless performance, and "9/11" relies on overly dramatic music, cheap-looking digital effects and cheesy lines that sounded like something straight out of a Hallmark movie. It's sensationalistic and frankly I don't think it was right to release it so close to the actual date of the disaster just to get more dollars outta peoples' pockets. My uncle's best friend died in those towers, it's not entertainment. The 2006 film "World Trade Center" was much more tasteful and listened to more insight from survivors and victims' families from the actual attacks. I think if Sheen hadn't been cast as a main actor, and if the melodrama was cut significantly, it would've been better. There were times though where in all fairness it was very good, mostly Goldberg's scenes in the tower and the reactions to the footage on the news. My advice? Don't boycott it or anything, but trust me, there are many better, more tasteful and more historical films on 9/11, including "The Great New Wonderful", "Diverted", "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Remember Me".

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• Exploitation of Tragedy

  cschultz-22017-09-11

  Although a few exceptional motion pictures have been based upon the tragic events which occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001—including 2002's "The Guys," Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" from 2006, and Paul Greenglass' "United 93" from the same year—the new picture "9/11" is not among them. Not hardly. Not even close. "9/11" is adapted from a 2011 stage piece written by Patrick Carson entitled "Elevator," originally presented at the Pima Community College in Tuscon, Arizona. Retitled "9/11," the picture concerns a group of five people trapped in an elevator in the World Trade Center's North Tower, working together to try to free themselves after the impact of the first airplane. Present in the elevator are Charlie Sheen and Gina Gershon as a bickering couple on the cusp of divorce, a bicycle messenger played by Wood Harris, the Russian-born actress Olga Fonda as wealthy man's mistress, and a janitor played by the talented character actor Luis Guzman. Working to help save the five are a dedicated group which includes WTC elevator controller Whoopi Goldberg. Adapted by Carson's minimalist stage piece by Steven Goleblowski, Martin Guigui, and Carson himself and directed by Guigui, "9/11" reduces the September 11 attacks to the proportions of a low budget, made-for-television disaster movie, complete with the one- dimensional, stereotypical characterizations usually found in that genre. As a result, "9/11" seems almost to border on blasphemy, trivializing the enormous gravity of the events of that day, inexplicably subtracting from the narrative the almost limitless emotional intensity present in the tragedy. Charlie Sheen is a particularly unfortunate choice for casting in a picture which purports to depict the experiences of September 11. The actor's irresponsible and often clownish offscreen antics have likely prohibited him from ever again being considered a viable actor, apparently even in the realm of television situation comedy. Sheen a decade ago was additionally responsible for remarks which seemed to suggest the September 11 attacks were a hoax perpetrated by the liberal press…remarks for which Sheen has recently apologized, apparently for reasons related to the release of this film, but conspicuously has not retracted. "9/11" mines for financial profit the abomination and infinite heartbreak of September 11, and as such is an assault not only on popular culture, but also on our shared heritage. The release of the picture to coincide with the sixteenth anniversary of the tragedy stinks of exploitation. Just ignore this one—without any attention at the box office, "9/11" will disappear quickly on its own merits…or its lack of them.

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• Dissapointing

  michael_ayre2017-12-20

  If you are expecting a film depicting the events of 9/11 then you will be very disappointed. This film should be called 'Stuck in a Lift', because other than the fact it is set on 9/11 and the building subsequently collapses, it could be any high rise any city any time. The characters are typical American stereotypes, so obviously chosen to try and make a film with about the dozen people in it interesting. A millionaire, a spoilt selfish brat of a wife, a very attractive feminist woman who just happens to be having an affair with an older man, a delivery guy and a maintenance man. hmm.... As for the plot. So ridiculous it's funny. The lift stops. Fair enough. But still has power and all the communications work? Then the cables snap and it falls I think 37 floors. But it stops at lobby level. Then more cables snap and it drops further. A door held closed by a solenoid, and a bolt closed escape hatch. Insulting the intelligence! The acting is wooden and the script about as boring as it can get. The title is nothing more than an insensitive link to tragic events to try and make a boring TV film plot appear more interesting, using the events of 9/11 to add some excitement. It's all so so wrong...........

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