Powerful

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2006)

United 93 was nothing like I expected. It wasn't a slick Hollwood movie and it wasn't a sappy movie-of-the-week kind of thing. It was raw and intense and gripping. What the director seems to give us is as close to a real-time accurate account as possible. I didn't get the sense there was much embellishment and there are no unbelievable heroics. Instead, we see confusion and fear that lead to desperation, courage and incredible determination.
The film spends as much time on the ground, in air traffic control towers and NORAD, as it does in the plane. But you really feel the drama, shock and utter chaos of that day from perspectives that you probably wouldn't expect. The really interesting thing is how much of the tension is created, not by the film, but by the viewer. You know what's going to happen, so every moment that it's not happening, reality is playing as this contrasting backdrop in your mind.
It was a truly powerful film.