I tried. I'd never heard of this movie before it aired on my local TV and my first thoughts were:
-Oh, another 9/11 movie (not that there has been that many so far)
-Starring Charlie Sheen? Ok why not, he used to be known for being a fine actor after all
-Starring Whoopie Goldberg, mmhh ok
-Starring Gina Gershon? Now that's interesting
-Oh and there's this actor you see everywhere since always! Luis Guzman!
-Wait, what? People trapped in an elevator after the attack? That rings a bell but you say this is a fiction? WTH?
So I thought, ok, maybe a straight to video movie, let's give it a try anyway. Well, I tried to watch it without any prejudice, I didn't go to Rottentomatoes (I never do), I didn't watch the users' reviews. And the result is so poor IMHO that I can't believe they even bothered to release it on big screens. The clichés are so expectable you can only laugh. The couple soon to be divorced making up in the end? Check. The crying mom saying I love you to her son? Check. The hero trapped at the last minutes just when you think that everybody will escape? Check. Etc.
This is badly written, badly directed, and worse of all, badly acted, and it makes me cringe to write this about all these people involved. No chemistry, anywhere.
It just didn't work. It should have, it could have, it didn't.