Stone directs a 9/11 drama about John McLoughlin (Cage) and Will Jimeno (Pena), two Port Authority policemen trapped in the World Trade Center after they went in as part of the rescue team. Film follows their efforts at survival and escape with the efforts of others to save them, and the fears of their families. Stone shot in chronological order to heighten the reality and tension and had the survivors and their families on the set as well. He puts aside the cynicism and paranoia for an elegantly told tale of extraordinary heroism by ordinary people.