By turns it is interesting and moving and is well worth seeing

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2006)

In near real time and using accounts and officials records of the day, Paul Greengrass delivers an account of the events surrounding the terrorist attack on 11/9/06, focusing on the aviation authorities, the military and the passengers of the only plane that did not reach its target  United flight 93. By doing this he was one of the first to make a film (as opposed to a documentary) that recreates the day. That said though, Greengrass' approach might as well be a documentary as it is very much a recreation as opposed to being a movie in the way Oliver Stone's film was.
Having done Bloody Sunday, I was happy that this had been put in his hands and I hoped he could do a good job. Although it certainly cannot be described as a fun experience, it is a great film in the way it coldly and convincingly does what it sets out to do  deliver a recreation. He doesn't try to manipulate the audience with cheap sentiment and he doesn't overplay the horror of the day. He also wisely avoids any questioning of why what happened and has no interest in conspiracy theories, mainly because few of us did as the day unfolded. Some viewers will complain about his shaky camera but for me I liked the way it kept moving, catching me up in the confusion on the ground and the fear on the plane.
The film makes very good use of official reports on the ground and does a good job of recreating the scenes on flight 93. Only a French (or at least a French accented) passenger trying to convince the other passengers to sit tight and just do what the hijackers want was a bum note for me  I'm not sure, maybe it was factually accurate but it felt like a cheap shot and it was not up to the standard of the rest of the film. The lack of any (for me) recognisable faces in the cast was a very good move as it took away anything that would distract. The cast of unknowns all work well together and are very convincing in their various roles; there are one or two so-so performances but few of these are key performances and are covered over easily enough.
The events themselves are still moving and it is easy to be caught up in them  the majority of the first half of the film is fascinating as you get a sense of the response on the ground, but the second half is gutting due to the very real sense of fear and desperation in the plane. Reviewers were concerned that this was "too soon" and I recall the internet having a buzz of dissension about the film but in reality Greengrass has delivered a strong recreation with a strong factual basis that just allows the events to speak for themselves right down to the very matter of fact way the film ends. By turns it is interesting and moving and is well worth seeing.