(Warning - spoilers inside. Read at your own risk.)

I have always boasted that I am a pretty tough fellow when it comes to showing emotion while watching movies - the only films I cried in were "Passion of the Christ" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" for pretty obvious reasons. After watching Oliver Stone's compelling emotional rollercoaster "World Trade Center" earlier tonight, I am forced to expand that list to three.

From the very beginning of the film (heck, the opening credits themselves), the audience is throttled back to the morning of 9/11, recalling where they were, what they were doing and how they dealt with it shortly thereafter. They recall the fear for their own lives they had, the outrage they had at whoever was responsible for the attacks and the admiration for New York's finest who made the ultimate sacrifice. And Stone does not disappoint in recreating the events of that day, creating a film that lives up to its ads that called it "a true story of courage and survival."

"World Trade Center" is a well-welcomed break from Stone's tendency to create conspiracy theory and politically-charged films such as "JFK" and "Nixon." What emerges is a gripping human drama that rips through your skin and straight at your heart and reminds you that, although September 11 showed us that although there are truly evil people in this world, in any crisis, people will almost always lay down their differences, their hatred and their fears to display rarely unseen acts of courage and heroism. It is the story of two Port Authority cops who found the strength to survive what should have been certain death buried under the rubble of the World Trade Center, the story of those who put their own well being aside to rescue them and the story of how the human will is stronger than any disaster thrown against it.

The film follows the lives of the McLoughlin and Jimeno families as they deal with the events that shocked America September 11th, 2001. John McLoughlin (Cage) was a sergeant in the New York Port Authority police force and was there was the Trade Center was attacked in 1993 but, like the rest of the City of New York, was unprepared for what took place when two airplanes crashed into what were the world's tallest buildings. McLoughlin was a regular guy with a wife (Maria Bello) and kids and like his sergeant, Jimeno (Michael Pena) was also a family guy with a young daughter and a caring wife (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who was carrying the couple's second child.

The morning starts off like any other would - both leave their homes and arrive at the police station, are briefed on where they are heading and what to look out for and set out to help keep New York a safe place. Not long after they start off the morning patrol, they are brought back to the station and reassigned to aid the crisis in Lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center has fallen under attack. In short time, they find themselves inside the WTC preparing to head up Tower 1 and assist with the evacuation before the tower collapses, trapping McLoughlin and Jimeno under an almost unfathomable amount of rubble.

While the two men lie partially buried, Stone introduces the audience to how the McLoughlin and Jimeno families dealt with the crisis and the fear that their respective husbands and fathers could be dead as well as the story of Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon) - who felt an urge from God to drive out to the remains of the Twin Towers and wound up discovering the two amidst the thousands of broken pieces of the WTC (and decided afterward to fight in America's war on terrorism by serving in Iraq). Karnes' story could garner its own movie one day but the one Stone directed and Shannon acted out perfectly is a short but inspiring one.

What was an interesting twist was the lack of graphic imagery in the film. The audience does not see the two planes crash into the Twin Towers and there is not a lot of blood in the film either except for a handful of slightly bloodied civilians running away from the towering inferno and minor-looking scrapes on Cage and Pena as they are carried out of the rubble. The only other somewhat graphic moment is when Stone shows a person falling out of the Trade Center as it is still standing but the moment is brief and he refrains from showing the guy hit the ground. The only true reason for the film's PG-13 rating is a minimal amount of cursing (a couple of "regular" curse words and only one f-bomb that I counted) and the thematic elements.

Craig Armstrong's soundtrack is, like the acting in the film, well chosen - it does not blow you away so much that the movie itself loses some of its luster nor is it lacking. It is during the final credits that Armstrong creates a beautiful yet harrowing score to listen to.

It may be a reach here or just a coincidence but it is my guess that Stone is a fan of FOX's counterterrorism drama "24" - regulars Jude Ciccolella (Mike Novick on "24") and Roger R. Cross (Curtis Manning on "24") have minor roles in the film but are in there nevertheless. For a "24" fan such as myself, it was nice to see the two on the big screen.

It was also nice to see a Hollywood movie that actually put out a positive message for Christianity. While buried under the rubble, Jimeno, at one point, reaches the edge of life and death where he sees the bright figure of Jesus Christ (his heart is shown through the light and a cross sits right above it) offering for him to go to his home above (Jimeno later adds that it was Christ that he saw before him). Karnes' character is drawn to New York because he said he was compelled to go there by the Lord.

The only knock on this film is, oddly enough, that it finishes with a happy ending. While it is great that the McLoughlin and Jimeno families got their husbands and fathers home safely, there were nearly 3,000 families who didn't. That may be overcritizing a film that tries to take a tragedy that is still very much fresh in our minds and turns it into an inspirational tale but that may be because it is still fresh in our minds. In thirty years, we will most likely look back on this movie as one of the best in Stone's career but it may be too soon for some viewers which is perfectly alright. For me, what Stone has produced here is an incredible film that is certainly one of the year's best and should earn him a nod for Best Director at the Oscars.

(Cage Photo Credit: http://thecia.com.au/reviews/w/images/world-trade-centre-center-0.jpg, Pena Photo Credit: http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1158187/photo_03.jpg)