powerful

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2008)

This movie was well done but wouldn't say it was great. The filmmaker did a pretty good job but one big thing he forgot to include were the subtitles for the hijackers once they had taken over the plane's cockpit. It doesn't have as powerful affect for viewers who don't understand Saudi or Iraqi language.
The one thing I really liked was that director Paul Greengrass really got things going in a hurry without much delay. I thought it was good to have the movie begin in the terrorists' hotel room at 05:35 and show pretty much their every move.
It's hard to imagine what actually took place on Sept.11 on that aircraft, but it's crazy to imagine the hijacker with the bomb standing in front of the entire cabin for half an hour waiting for something to happen. If the hijackers took over the plane at roughly the same time the WTC planes were hijacked, that means the passengers aboard Flight 93 would have had that much more time to organize their revolt. I would think that even a skilled hijacker would have been able to get the job done even if he had less time to work with than they may have planned for. I guess my thought is that if the other 3 planes hit their target, and this one didn't, could it be possible that Flight 93's hijackers weren't as efficient as the others were?
In turn, what if the other 3 planes involved in the attacks were delayed by 20-30 minutes, would they have been thwarted too?
The thing I didn't like was that some parts were unrealistic. Even though it was clear that it was fake, how did the one hijacker get onto the plane with a bomb? Doesn't that say something about America's security at the airport? Even though it was fake, it's hard to believe the guy still got on without question. I also would have thought that the hijackers would have started killing anyone who did anything suspicious, such as placing a call on a cell phone. According to this movie, when the plane hit the ground, many passengers were still alive. It makes me wonder if the 3 other groups of hijackers actually killed the passengers before they crashed into the WTC and the Pentagon? If the Flight 93 hijackers had started killing passengers, they may have been able to stay on their mission. it kind of tells me that the Flight 93 hijackers were probably quite nervous and as the movie went on, it looked like it was obvious they were losing control.
Other than the lack of subtitles for the hijackers, the film was well done and I liked how the camera was focused on the ground in the last seconds of the flight.
Because of the plane's long delay in takeoff, it's been brought up that if the flight actually took off on time, the terrorists may have been able to take control earlier than they did, and thus, crash the plane on target. I thought that was kind of interesting because after they took control of the cockpit, one hijacker asked the leader why they waited so long? The reply was that he was waiting for the right time. If the flight hadn't been delayed, things may have gone accordingly for them, as they took over the plane's controls after the WTC had already been hit, meaning that Flight 93 fell behind because of the delay in takeoff. If they departed on time, they likely would have crashed in Washington, DC instead. If director Greengrass was able to find a way to highlight that scene a little more, it may have made for an even more powerful ending.
Everything in the film seemed pretty realistic so it was easy to relate to the feeling onboard once the hijackers took over. It also made me wonder if there are any other movies, besides World Trade Centre, that tell the story from the victims' point of view.