I feel like this is the only 9/11 movie I need to see...

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2014)

There are some events which are clearly ingrained into our minds, and especially into the American psyche (or so I would guess, being British myself). Events such as the Apollo 13 mission or JFK conspiracies have both been portrayed on film extremely successfully, and both of these films ("Apollo 13" and "JFK") seem like the only representations of those events that need to exist. Even if not completely accurate, they are the only films of these events that we need. 9/11 is an event which is still stuck in our memories, and has been portrayed in a countless number of movies. However, having seen "United 93″, I feel like this is the only one that I need to see.
The film does not focus on the two planes that flew into the World Trade Centre, or the one that flew into the Pentagon. It focuses on a lesser known story – the fourth plane. I think this was exactly the right decision. I've certainly grown up with the very familiar images of smoke coming from both towers, and it's a story which I feel I know very well. The fourth plane is much less well known, but it's a story which should be told more: one of heroism in the face of a horrible fate, and people who gave their own lives to save so many others.
Paul Greengrass is exactly the right director to have made this film. The documentary-like style which he has shown off in "Captain Phillips" and the "Bourne" movies fits this perfectly, throwing you into the action not only on the plane, but also into the control rooms. He makes you a part of the event, giving you a very real and harrowing sense of the fear felt by the passengers and the chaos of those on the ground. The actors are all newcomers, and many of those on the ground play themselves. There's no sense of celebrity, but that these are real people, making things all the more realistic.
It's a tricky film to watch in many places, somewhat inevitably because of the nature of the event, but ultimately worth it in trying to understand what people must have felt being on that plane. The one place where the film could suffer is in its ending. Because the event is recent and familiar, we all know how it's going to end. The final few minutes are nothing less than brilliant and emotionally charged as you know what's coming. Greengrass takes an enormous risk in ending the film where he does, but it pays off, and you leave the film feeling that he was right to do so. He in no way glamourises the event, and it's the harsh realism which he brings to the film that makes it such a worthwhile watch.