Best 9/11 movie out there

Rating: 7/10 (10 August 2007)

Its only dawn for movies about 9/11, the only full length feature film I know of being World Trade Center, which was terrible. That being said, that automatically makes this the best 9/11 movie so far- I even like it more than the documentaries that recover footage.
Opening on a tense and dark note, the movie wastes no time setting up everything. The terrorists board the plane, the other planes are hijacked, the WTC is hit, and the military is in a frenzy. While all this comes out good, the scenes on the plane are too slow-moving until the plane is finally hijacked in a dramatic and moving sequence.
After the hijacking, the passengers make phone calls to their loved ones, hear of the 9/11 plot, and decide to take action. Everyone on board is a hero, but a problem lies in not knowing who they are.
When people are calling their loved ones you feel for them but you're most likely not going to end up teary-eyed. The performances are touching but not having a story backdrop keeps it from moving you to tears.
The stand out performances of the film are the terrorists aboard United 93. They barely speak much and you can see the inner conflict in one of them simply by the expression of his face. The hijacking itself is very frightening and the terrorists are merciless.
While the film is strong, its a bit too slow-moving and therefore, can make it boring. And not knowing who anybody was makes it hard to evoke any emotion in one unless they lost a loved one that day. I live in NYC but did not, so after my first viewing I felt my attention going elsewhere. I recommend it for one viewing and one viewing only. 7.4/10.