:
David Alan Basche,
David Alan Basche,
Richard Bekins,
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:
Paul Greengrass,
Paul Greengrass
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Universal Studios
: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Political Thriller
: 111 min.
: English, Spanish, French
: Spanish, French
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Bloody Sunday director Paul Greengrass marks the five-year anniversary on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States with this speculative meditation on the events that took place onboard the fourth hijacked plane, and the actions of the passengers who gave their lives to ensure the safety of others. Told in real time and acted out by a cast of unknowns who were provided with detailed studies of their real-life counterparts, United 93 attempts to reconstruct the airborne tragedy from the view of the ground and flight controllers, the passengers, and their nervous families awaiting word on the fate of their loved ones. As the terrified travelers and crew gradually become aware of the historical events taking place on the ground so far beneath them, the 90 minutes in which a random collection of strangers realized their fate and came together to confront an unthinkable threat are re-created. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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| Welcome to "The Real World"
by ZenBones
September 10, 2006 - 5:06 PM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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I have to admit, having read the 9/11 Commission's report on the incompetency of those in the FAA and the military, I automatically assumed that they were all severely incompetent individuals. But this film unveils the humanity of these people who did their best under a system that was severely incompetent. As each horrible event unfolded that day, we see their stunned disbelief as it had been reflected in our own faces. They were seeing something they could not have imagined. In fact, when the military got word of the first hijacking on September 11th, their bewildered response was, "in the real world?" You see, they were running defense drills at that time against a possible Russian attack via Alaska. To say the world's greatest superpower was out of touch is putting it lightly. It would only take a person in stubborn denial to not realize that had the government who had received over a dozen memos about possible hijackings simply put that info into the official loop with the military and the FAA, the tragedies of September 11th could have been avoided. The cynicism and denial began at the top, when Condi Rice assumed that the word 'determined', as in "Bin Laden determined to attack US" meant the same as 'he'd like to', as in "one day he'd like to visit Tahiti". Citizens have the liberty to cynically toss out phrases like "yeah, in his dreams", but our government has to approach national security issues as if they were living in the real world, and that's what our government was completely out of touch with.
But to the film at hand ... It is as streamlined as any major motion picture has ever been, and hopefully a lesson to Hollywood that less is definitely more. I kept wondering where they found so many terrific actors to give such low-key performances until I discovered that most of the performers were 'real people' who worked with the FAA or the military or United Airlines. The long lens shakycam is something that usually drives me batty but it served the film well here since it works as a window into what really happened that day. The cinematography is also outstanding in how it used saturated lighting on the plane to create that sort of everyday haze one feels when they are in the skies flying backwards against time. Every detail was real, including blink or you'll miss 'em touches like the stewardess clutching onto a seat as she was about to be killed; something that we all do in desperate but futile moments when we will grab onto anything or anyone for a feeling of something safe and familiar. And kudos to the filmmakers for keeping the film score minimalist. I would have preferred none at all, but for the most part it is non-obtrusive and thankfully non-sentimental. At the end of the day, this is an excellent chapter in what will hopefully be many chapters that will put that day into its proper context of desperation and humanity.
One other note; do check out the bonus features. There are interviews with the surviving family members, and biographies on each of the passengers and crew. Despite the tears that will ensue, it will give you hope because you'll realize how many really wonderful people there are out there. The media always drowns us with details of the wicked, but they barely ever mention people like these passengers; so many of whom had dedicated their lives to saving the planet and to helping those who are less fortunate. To say they were heroes is no exaggeration. |
| Final Destination (Appropriately Faith-Based)
by talltale
August 27, 2006 - 4:55 PM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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Faith is the first thing you see and hear in Paul Greengrass' shocking and supremely well-made UNITED 93. This faith appears to be real and all-important to the men who possess it and pray so fervently to God. This is, of course, the same God to whom we all pray--right?--because we all (or most of us) attest that, as far as Gods go, there's only the one. If the praying, which on some level MUST render these men human, doesn't start you questioning, other things might in this movie that tosses you into the midst of that morning of 9/11/01.
You'll feel part of the air traffic controllers (as they desperately attempt to figure out what is going on) and the crew and passengers on United flight 93 (as they begin to piece together--better, it appears, than did our government--what is happening to them and to the nation). As he did in "The Murder of Stephen Lawrence," "Bloody Sunday" and (less successfully) in "The Bourne Supremacy," Greengrass uses a documentary approach that utterly nails time, place, people and events so that you hang on every word and deed as real and vital. As told here, it almost seems that, has the passengers been given slightly more time or acted a bit sooner, the flight might have been saved. Despite our familiarity with the outcome, this movie remains among the most suspenseful I have ever seen.
In addition to being left with great sadness and loss, you may also be aware of a certain anger rising at the incompetence of our government. The film does not underscore this, but it pops up briefly: Why did it take so long to communiucate and coordinate? And where were our "leaders" when they were most needed? The captain, it is said, always goes down with his ship, but I somehow doubt this will happen with our administration. Should our country ever be attacked in the manner and with the strength that we attacked Iraq, I suspect that Messieurs Bush and Cheney will also be found hiding in an underground hole. Better decorated and more secure, of course, than the one used by Saddam Hussein. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.36)
39 Votes
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