Took a nose dive like the plane

Rating: 5/10 (15 September 2011)

"United 93" was not as great as it could and should've been. It had several problems which most people would call weaknesses but also some strengths that make it worth watching. One of the weaknesses in my eyes was the extremely hand-held documentary feel of the film. Shaky cam is great now and again but when it starts to consume the whole film with no control what so ever it starts to become tiresome. Supposedly it was supposed to show the whole panic and lack of control of the whole situation but it needed to be much more controlled like in "Black Swan" or "The Wrestler".
Another weak point was the way the first three quarters were so slow. We don't really care or understand about these plane dots that keep disappearing and several calls from planes saying that they've been hijacked. It became very repetitive and the plane that the whole film is about (93, my age) became over-shadowed until the final scenes. In my opinion the film would've been stronger if it was focused almost completely on 93 being hijacked.
I also didn't like the lack of plot. Some may argue that the plot simply was about the 9/11 attacks which is fine, but there were no real characters who we could care about. There seemed to be very little characterisation going on which means the story stalled and couldn't get passed a certain road block. A story could've perhaps been made up, maybe not to the extent of "Titanc" but it might've been better if it focused on one or two particular people or families so that the plot could be driven forward a bit more.
But, if we put aside all my perhaps unreasonable comments, they're are some good aspects about the film. It did feel realistic which is a sort of must in a real-life account type film. It felt like you could imagine this happening which was good. It was also good how they used unknown actors as this added also to the realism of it all. The final 20 minutes or so are also really good, when the plane actually gets hijacked and the passengers fight back it's thrilling and intense and it should've been like this throughout instead of focussing on the traffic-control peeps.
"United 93" is worth seeing if you get passed the slow beginning. It's final act is what the film is about with great and inspiring actions by the passengers. It's ending is also really good and truthful. Perhaps, if you remember the 9/11 attacks you might appreciate it more, but I was a mere nipper.