So suspenseful even though we know the tragic ending

Rating: 9/10 (9 September 2016)

I happened to see United 93 when visiting family in a London rental apartment and given we know the tragic ending, I must admit I didn't think I could be so gripped by United 93. Maybe it's because the director and writer Paul Greengrass is British, we get a non-gung-ho but moving account of this terrorist attack. The cast doesn't have any big Hollywood names, but we still really want them to overpower the terrorists.
Even in the final, gripping and horrific scene, I was hoping against hope that the brave passengers managed to land the plane. That's how convincing I thought the acting was. I mean, when I watched the Titanic (the Kate Winslet one), I just felt it was inevitable that the iceberg would prevail, but in United 93 I really thought that just maybe in an alternative universe where Gore won the Miami recount in 2000, the terrorists would be overcome by the heroic Americans.