September 12, 2006

Thanks, ABC

The closing scene of "Path to 9/11", which depicts the collapse of the World Trade Center, was one of the most moving and riveting movie scenes I've had the opportunity to view in recent years.

My hat's off to writer Cyrus Nowrasteh and director David Cunningham for the quality of this production.  And I thank ABC and Disney for sticking by their guns and showing the film largely intact, despite a full-court press by the Democrat leadership, who spent most of last week whining that the film wasn't fair to the Clinton legacy.  What a bunch of babies.  I'd have preferred that the Dems not have the ammunition to knock the production, but despite taking certain liberties with the details, Nowrasteh's script definitely gets the important things right.  And he doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the performance of the Clinton or Bush administrations in fighting terror.  To be fair to both presidents, 99% of us didn't take Osama bin Laden seriously before 9-11.  What a difference one day can make.

As FBI agent John O'Neill, Harvey Keitel put in the excellent performance we've long since come to expect from him, while Donnie Wahlberg kicked some serious ass as CIA agent "Kirk."  Quite a different character from Carwood Lipton, the quiet soldier he played in Band of Brothers.  I hope to see a lot more from him.  It takes some serious talent to be able to play both Milton "red stapler" Waddams and Richard Clarke, but the chronically-underappreciated Stephen Root clearly has the talent to knock both roles out of the park.  Finally, a pissed-off Patricia Heaton on a rampage is pretty much the sexiest thing I've seen this year.  Wow.

If you didn't catch it on ABC, find someone who TiVo'd it, or grab it on DVD when it comes out.  It's worth watching.

Cross-posted to The Sammenhold Blog.

By Ragnar Danneskjold, Typical Bitter Gun-Clinger at 04:18 PM | |