"United 93 are you there? Come in 93"

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2006)

Director Paul Greengrass has done the seemingly impossible. He has made a tasteful, powerful, emotional, great and above all else respectful movie on one of the events that transpired on September 11th 2001.
You all know what this movie is about so there is no need to explain it. The movie begins in the early morning hours of September 11th 2001 in the hotel room of the terrorists who hijack flight United 93. We follow them from there to the airport, to the plane, through the hijacking and right to the end. Everything in this movie is done respectfully and tastefully. There are no cartoonish bad guys, nor are there any Bruce Willis or Wesley Snipes type heroes. The music doesn't swell up or have violins playing in the background when the crew rebels. There are no dramatic slow motion shots either. This is a real movie plain and simple.
The acting in this movie is surprisingly great. All the actors in this are unknowns and this helps in a big big way. If we has Nicholas Cage or Brad Pitt in this movie then that would detract from is severely. We'd look at it and know that they are acting. With the unknowns though, they feel like regular people in a terrible situation. They all give great, convincing performances and really pull you in to the movie, yes even the terrorists do. There is not one main character we follow either, rather it is symbolic of the title; they are all United as one and we care for them individually as well as a whole. We don't get to know them deeply but that doesn't deter because, essentially they are us. You get to know them gradually throughout the movie though.
The music is a truly spectacular aspect of this film. As I said earlier, it isn't overly dramatic nor is it all heroic and such. It is absolutely perfect for this movie; the composer couldn't have done a better job. It's especially wonderful near the end though, truly spectacular.
Greengrass uses a lot of hand-held camera work here; most of the movie is in hand-held format. This helps us get sucked in to the situation even more because we feel as though we are spectators and going through what the crew and passengers went through. It's very effective and it never gets annoying. Some complain that hand-held cameras give them motion sickness, but if it's in the hands of the right director it works great (Mann is a good example) and Greengrass shows he is one of the ones who make it work.
The visual effects are good, for the sparse amount there are in the films. Most of them are just the outlook of the plane windows but they never look hokey or out of place. They seem very natural.
The imagery in this movie is wonderful. It doesn't go overboard exploiting everything that happened nor does it wallow in itself by saying "Hey, I'm a 9/11 movie, watch how I show all the horrible images we've seen over the past 4.5 years!" It shows what it needs to. It shows a news report of the second plane hitting, it shows the WTC in the background, smoking. It does not however show the buildings collapse nor does it show the plane exploding. It reminds us of why this is such an important event in our history, why we should never forget it. Greengrass knows that we lived through this and doesn't overdue the graphic-ness (for lack of a better word) of this subject, but he also shows enough and tells enough that future generations will be able to watch this movie and grasp what their Parents and Grandparents experienced that fateful September morning in 2001.
The ending to this movie is absolutely perfect. It ends in a perfect way; right when it should end. It ends right where you expect it too as well. It ends with the plane crashing. The crash is a first person outlook from the cockpit and the ground is spiraling toward you and you really get a great sense of how fast they were really going. Right before it hits, the screen goes to black for about 5 or so seconds. Then text appears explaining what happened following the crash and the text changes about three times before saying that this movie is dedicated to all those who lost their lives on September 11th 2001. You really have to see it though; it's quite moving and is quite simply the perfect way to end this movie.
United 93 is a spectacular movie. This is truly a movie for everyone. Everybody should see it, maybe not right now cause I know some people aren't ready to relive 9/11 quite yet and some think it's too early for a movie like this, but everyone should see it one day. These passengers and the crew struck the first blow in the war against terror, they were true patriots and I commend Greengrass because he didn't make this movie for money (even if that was the studio's intention) nor did he exploit the victims of this event. He made it to tell a story, a very important story of what happened 4 and a half years ago. He showed us how heroic these people are and that America is a strong nation. Honestly, I've never been more proud to be an American.