New 9/11 Film, World Trade Center, Drawing Mixed Reviews

For many New Yorkers the movie is just to early after the 9/11 tragedies.

Stone's new movie has mixed reviews from New Yorkers Photo courtesy: moviehole.net

(NEW YORK) - For many New Yorkers the very idea of reliving the September 11th tragedy through the eyes of Oliver Stone in his new film World Trade Center is too traumatic to think about.

Opening August 9th in North America, a month before the fifth anniversary of the 2001 attacks, the full-length film with Nicolas Cage in the main role tells the true story of two police officers trapped in the rubble of the Twin Towers in New York.

"It's an exploration of heroism in our country - but is international at the same time in its humanity," Stone said a year ago when the project was announced by Paramount Pictures.

The director said the screenplay was "a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened, and carries within a compassion that heals".

Stone, 59, who has won three Oscars including best director for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, has been criticized over the years for a lack of nuance that has colored much of his work, such as the ultra-violent Natural Born Killers.

"I have no interest whatsoever. I think it's horrible. Just the idea of having a movie about 9/11 bothers me," said Jessica Amato in summarizing the mood of many New Yorkers about Stone's new project.

The movie had a Hollywood-style sneak preview on Thursday evening in New York City, with the red carpet rolled out for celebrities, but also attended by key figures in the tragedy such as former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Victims' relatives also attended the showing. Among these was Mary Fetchet, who lost a son that day and is the founding director of the Voices of September 11th, a non-profit advocacy group.

Carrie Lemack, who lost her mother in the first plane attack and later founded the Families of September 11, a victims' support group, said she started running out of movie theatres when the film's trailers hit the screens in May.

Her organization’s internet site devoted its front page to a discussion on whether those who were struck by the events should watch.

Stone himself has so far received predominantly positive reviews from critics and he repeated on Thursday that he believed the film would preserve the memory of the event for future generations.

But a few months after the modest box-office performance of United 93 - the story of the hijacked plane that was taken over and downed by passengers who all lost their lives - some New Yorkers are skeptical about the movie's potential success.

The police union of the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, which lost 37 people on September 11th, has already officially informed its members of the risk of traumatic shock should they decide to see the movie.