Reliving the terror... Remembering those lost...

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2006)

I just got back from seeing this movie and I have to say it was much better than I expected it to be (and I entered with high hopes to begin with). Despite being made up of unknown and some first-time actors, the emotion and depth of the fear and desperation is captured perfectly. Be it in the airplane, control room, or military headquarters, every minute of the film is believable.
It begins as just a normal Tuesday, no different from the day week or month before. Passengers arrive to their plane and board, the only fears in their minds being of possible engine trouble. We then see the chaos on the ground as both twin towers are hit and two more suspected high-jacked planes are discovered. As the passengers slowly realize their fate, they begin that last fight for survival. Even though the conclusion of the movie is obvious, there were times when I found myself believing they could make it out of the plane alive (such as when they discovered a pilot amongst the passengers). The movie ends when the flight ends, followed by a few facts about delayed orders and intelligence.
A strange thing about the movie is that you begin to feel sympathy for everyone on the plane. It was heartbreaking watching the passengers call their loved ones for the last time, and one has to think what making a call like that to their own family would be like. The viewer even finds them self sympathizing with the terrorists at times. One of them seems to want to abort the mission at the beginning due to the loved one he is leaving behind. Most of the time, however the viewer finds them self wishing the most gruesome death imaginable upon them.
I have read the some of the bad reviews people posted on this site, as well as other websites/newspapers and I feel their concerns are unfounded. Some feel this movie is being made "too soon". I could not possibly agree any less with this opinion. It is not their place to decide when a movie like this should be made. Yes this is a delicate subject but there's only one group of people that have the right to determine when it's "okay" to make a movie such as this, and that role belongs to the family and loved ones of those lost. The families helped collaborate with the director and gave him the thumbs up to make the movie, and if that's the case no one can say that United 93 came out too soon. This movie was made to honor the lives lost, not exploit money from people who feel they have to watch this in order to feel patriotic.
Another issue I'd like to address is those that condemn this movie because of its inaccuracies. Sure we have no perfect way of knowing exactly what went on, but the director and writers did their best. Remember, this is NOT a documentary. It is a docudrama that relives the events as accurately as it can yet fills up the holes with what may be fiction.
This movie is very moving. At the end, an awed silence overtook the audience followed by applause. This reminds of us the patriotism we gained through 9/11 and lost through the recent years of pointless fighting with Iraq. Some may say I'm only giving this a movie a 10 because I don't wanna seem unpatriotic. They couldn't be further from the truth. I'm giving this movie a perfect score because it described the true story of heroism and the actions of ordinary who managed to prevent the loss of even more lives on that dark September day.