I can't recall seeing a more intense film.

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2006)

How can one give a spoiler to this film?
Make no mistake about it: this is strong stuff. For the most part the movie is played very low key, letting the events speak for themselves. Anything more would have been too much. The score is effective, but so muted that most of the time you do not know it is there. All the actors (and the air traffic controllers who in many cases play themselves, an extraordinary feat of casting) do an outstanding job. Both technically and as a story, the film is a marvel. You are there, and I sympathize with those who would prefer they weren't. If you have doubts, you may want to wait for the DVD.
But I have no sympathy for the accuracy hypocrites, the same who couldn't get enough of Michael Moore's rubbish. Yes, it is accurate. In broad outline, we know exactly what happened and the film conveys it very well indeed. Are there things we can't know? Certainly. For example, the hijackers may well have been scared (two of them anyway) but how can we ever know their feelings? What we do know and get to see is that they will murder even when there is no necessity. Greengrass spares us nothing.
Note to Hollywood: Jodi Foster is nowhere to be seen and she was not missed.
As I write the film has opened very well on a per screen basis, but who knows how well it will do over the next several weeks. I certainly can't imagine anyone wanting to see this film more than once, but I have been wrong on that before. Like a lot of people, I have wanted to forget 9/11/2001. "United 93" brings it all back. After I left the theater, I was grateful. But it's up to you to decide if that is a good or bad thing.