Highly Recommended

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2006)

Paul Greengrass has created a stunner. Dramatizing the events of 9/11 was an obvious challenge. First he had to justify the making of the movie against widespread opinions that it was uncomfortably soon to let film makers dramatize the story. Add to that the fact that the audience had presumably seen, heard, talked about and read every conceivable angle of 9/11. Greengrass avoids the slight impediments deftly. United 93 tells an almost real-time account of the story, from individual points of view, bringing each experience out so vividly and intimately that we relive it along with the characters. It does not attempt to glorify the heroes of the fateful flight, neither does it load the story with Hollywood-style colors and dramatics. It just tells the story in a real and grounded manner, and sets it in a palpable world where bad things happen to good people, and man stands up to protect himself and fight oppression. And that's what makes it all work out so well.