United 93
Tags: tragedy, violence, psychedelic, murder, sentimental

Plot synopsis:
On the morning of September 11, 2001, passengers board United Airlines Flight 93, bound for San Francisco, at Newark Liberty International Airport, including Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, Richard Guadagno, Louis J. Nacke, II, William Joseph Cashman and Patrick Joseph Driscoll. Four al-Qaeda terrorists Ziad Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami, and Ahmed al-Haznawi also board the flight.
Meanwhile, newly promoted FAA National Operations Manager Ben Sliney is in a meeting when it is reported that American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles has been hijacked after Mohamed Atta is overheard on the radio saying, "We have some planes". Minutes later the aircraft crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Much to Sliney and his staff's horror, they learn that a second flight United Airlines Flight 175 also from Boston to Los Angeles, has been hijacked and after New York air traffic controllers attempt to contact the aircraft, it is seen live on CNN plowing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as reported that day. Sliney and his staff realize they are dealing with several hijackings and orders the military to be on the lookout for American Airlines Flight 77, which is reported missing and presumed to have also been hijacked.
On United 93, Jarrah appears hesitant to initiate the hijacking plan, perhaps seems to be having second thoughts about going through with it. Impatient, the other three hijackers prepare for invasion themsevles. al-Haznawi assembles a fake bomb out of clay and plastic during breakfast, then al-Ghamdi makes the first move and grabs hold of flight attendant Debbie Welsh at knifepoint. After a passenger is fatally stabbed and the "bomb" is revealed causing mass panic among passengers, al-Nami and al-Haznawi force the first class passengers to the back of the plane. Meanwhile, Jarrah and al-Ghamdi threaten Welsh and wrestle their ways into the cockpit. The pilots send out a mayday call but are killed and dragged from the cockpit. Welsh herself is killed. Jarrah turns the plane, intending to crash the plane into the United States Capitol.
Sliney, still debating on what to do about the unfolding disaster, is in shock when American 77 crashes into the Pentagon and comes to a decision that all aircraft be grounded and planes are not to enter or leave US airspace until further notice.
Aboard United 93, the passengers become aware of the dead bodies, and learn from family members via airphone of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; they decide to take action organizing a revolt against the hijackers. Their plan is empowered with the knowledge that passenger Don Greene has experience in flying.
After passengers arm themselves, pray, and make final phone calls to loved ones, Todd Beamer says, "Let's Roll!" The group begin their counterattack, rushing down the aisle and overpowering Ahmed al-Haznawi; Mark Bingham crushes Ahmed al-Haznawi's skull with a fire extinguisher, killing him. Seeing this, al-Nami alerts Jarrah and al-Ghamdi in the cockpit of the ongoing assault. Jarrah shakes the plane violently to throw the passengers off balance; nonetheless they continue their assault, overpowering Ahmed al-Nami who is killed by Glick snapping his neck. Seeing the passengers getting nearer, al-Ghamdi and Jarrah debate whether to take the flight down, knowing they'll never reach their intended target. The passengers then breach the cockpit with the food cart, and al-Ghamdi orders Jarrah to crash the plane. Nonetheless, the passengers finally gain entrance into the cockpit, and battle both hijackers over the controls. As the passengers and hijackers struggle for control of the yoke, the plane plummets into a nosedive and goes upside down as the screen cuts to black. Title cards reveal the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board.

Review: I don't think I've had such a profound and sober movie going experience like this since I saw The Passion of the Christ, and when the film was over how did the audience react?
The casting of the film includes a number of real life United pilots, stewardesses, air traffic controllers and military personnel, many of them actually playing themselves.
We are seeing these people for the first time, with no previous knowledge of them as actors and it only works in their favor.The film opens quietly with several hijackers going through their morning rituals, reading aloud from the Koran; praying to God and kneeling on the floor of their hotel room and then packing their things to head to the Newark airport.
But it's not until United flight 93 takes off that the towers are hit and the plane is up in the air when the terrorist's plans are set into motion.The final fifteen minutes of United 93 will leave you speechless and paralyzed, as a group of passengers plan to attack and over throw the terrorists and try to take back the cockpit.
United 93 is absolutely amazing, and to see a better or more important film this year seems very unlikely, and I think this film should be required viewing for all Americans, but when they feel that they are ready for it, because this is as real as it gets.
Masterfully written and directed by Paul Greengrass, this relentlessly intense movie covers that fateful morning when United Airlines Flight 93 departed Newark for San Francisco with 33 passengers and seven crew members on board.As it turns out, Greengrass's heavy background in documentaries turns out to be a blessing in this treatment, as he tracks the subsequent events in real time and uses either under-the-radar actors or actual aviation personnel to play the real-life characters.
In fact, the last half-hour is harrowing in the most personal sense as the inevitable becomes reality.The power of the film comes from its surprisingly apolitical perspective and the inclusion of the ground personnel trying to comprehend the scope of all the redirected planes that day, in particular, Ben Sliney who effectively plays himself that day, the just-promoted supervisor of the National Air Traffic Control Center in Herndon, Va. None of the actors stand out because the film cumulatively achieves a verisimilitude that simply knocks me out.
Not to mention, I didn't want to go through that depression again and watch those horrifying events happen again, a girl at work had mentioned how she saw United 93 and World Trade Center, she said it was nothing like what you would expect of an action movie, it's more dedicated to those who lost their lives that tragic day.United 93 is a truly inspiring tale about the 4th hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
These people were truly incredible and the thing that I loved about the film was that it was made to show that they were not victims, they chose to not be so, they knew what they were facing and unfortunately died trying.Another thing that I appreciated is that I think we did forget about those planes that were hijacked and the horror that the passengers must have gone through.
This is the story about the events leading up to the hijacking and about the people who tried to save United flight 93.At first I did not want to see this film.
We get insight of the real-time actions taken by the military, air-traffic and flight control personnel and how they tried in vain to take control of the situation (and ultimately grounding every single plane in flight that day).However well the movie portrayed the crew and passengers, I found the portrayal of one of the hijackers (the pilot) a bit discomforting.
We sit in the plane with the heroes of that day, we watch it unfold from the perspectives of the flight controllers and NORAD, we feel the confusion, the torment, and ultimately, the victory in the end.
It's not an easy film to watch, but I believe people should see it, if not as a tribute to those who died, then as a remembrance that due vigilance is constantly necessary in these dark times.Some may disagree and call it "propaganda," but that is patently ridiculous.Based on the United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth U.S. jet hijacked on Sept.
11, 2001 (and the only liner not to strike its intended target), this movie has the intentional feel of a documentary, and is thus difficult to really criticize.Much of this reasoning is that the picture tells a straight enough story, with little or no dramatic embellishments (other than to speculate what exactly took place on-board the doomed craft) in real time, from take-off to its ultimate crash, approximately 90 minutes.What there is, however, is a moving, powerful, gut-wrenching, emotional work by director/writer Paul Greengrass ("Bourne Supremacy," "Resurrected," "Bloody Sunday").
Nevertheless, he will no doubt take some heat form some uninitiated film-goers who equate this movie with a piece of propaganda, but that could not be further from the truth.Greengrass plays it fairly even down the line, and cockpit voice recordings, as well as last phone calls from passengers and crew seem to indicate his vision of the plane's hijacking seem pretty close to factual.Of course, no one is going to know 100 percent of what happened aboard flight 93, since no one survived its ultimate crash in Shanksville, Penn.
Jason Dahl (J.J. Johnson) and First Officer LeRoy Homer (Gary Commock), as well as one or more passengers.One of the hijackers, Ahmed Al Haznawi (Omar Berdouni) has brandished a fake bomb, which keeps the passengers at bay long enough for Ghamdi to turn the San Francisco-bound craft east towards Washington, DC.Stunned by the events, but believing them to be completely isolated, the passengers are shocked to discover  via cell and air phone conversations  that planes have already smashed into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and the Pentagon.They now realize this is not a hostage situation, that the flight is to be used as a missile against an unknown target, and they will probably not escape with their lives.It's then that the passengers, mainly Todd Beamer (David Alan Basche, "War of the Worlds") Joseph DeLuca (Ray Charleston, "Out For A Kill"), Jeremy Glick (Peter Herman, "The Treatment") and Mark Bingham (Cheyenne Jackson, "Curiosity"), attempt to retake the plane.And while these scenes are gripping enough, the real fascination (for this scribbler, at least) comes from the segments in which the various civilian and military air traffic controllers, as well as other technicians, come to the cold realization that something horrible and unprecedented is taking place in the nation's skies that autumn morning.The drama that builds as controllers scramble to identify possible hijacked planes (American Airline Flight 11 and United 175), and their investigation into 93's dilemma, is excruciatingly tense."United 93" also exposes some serious miscommunication between civilian and military authorities, with no one knowing much of anything until it is way too late.Another interesting touch is that Greengrass chose not to populate the picture with big names, which would have diluted the impact (in fact, several roles are actually played by real ATC personnel, recreating the positions they held in 2001 for this movie).This is not an easy film to watch, but I could not look away.
I saw it and thought it was really good, you could get the feel of the tension and the emotions running the the passengers and their families, i would highly recommend it to anyone who wants the truth about what happened on the fourth plane that day in 2001.
STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits A re-enactment of the terrifying events abroad United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11 2001, as several suicide bombers took control of the plane and attempted to crash it into The Pentagon.
The opening featuring an overhead of the New York skyline at night as we hear Muslim prayers being sung by the terrorists in their rented hotel rooms gives a creepy and quietly foreboding sense that the big, bustling city where so many people are walking about minding their business and no one suspects a thing is under threat, the use of a digital camera, adding immeasurably to the 'real' feel the film has and the sudden ending which doesn't delve into the aftermath and make the film become sappy in any way.
Do them a REAL honor and inform yourself wat really happened that day.Watch one of the following films instead:9/11 Mysteries Loose Change 9/11 Martial Law: Rise of the Police StateAll can be seen for free online.
not mentioned in the movie, my cousin tells me that he knows of people that worked at the mill behind where flight 93 went down, and are said to have seen the plane in a fireball upside down,, then crashing, of course suggesting that the military shot the plane down,, anyways, i have some camcorder footage of the memorial, and will try to get it up on my my space for those to see if anyone is interested.
Although we can only dimly understand what must have happened on that ninety minute flight, we can know from the two dozen phone calls and from the 30 minutes of Cockpit Voice recordings that it dramatizes and symbolizes everything that we face today.Made with the full support of the families of those on board, FLIGHT 93 will track in real time the dramatic story of what happened inside the aircraft as well as on the ground, as passengers, crew, Civilian Air Traffic Controllers and Military Command Centers struggle to make sense of an unimagined and unimaginable crisis.The film begins on a normal September morning at Newark airport.
But sitting in four first class seats right next to them is an Al Qaeda cell.And so as the hijack unfolds, the film moves between the passengers and crew in the air and civilian and military air traffic controllers on the ground as each tries desperately to avert the flight's progress towards the Capitol Building in the heart of Washington D.C."Flight 93" will take us through the events of 9/11 as they happen in real time - all the confusion, violence, courage and endurance of a day that changed our lives forever..
You would have been forgiven for thinking it blasphemous to even entertain the idea of shooting a movie on 9/11, yet despite the controversy United 93 is here, and will attract an audience regardless (or maybe even as a result of) its negative press.Shot in real time, on digital camera, United 93 begins with showing us the terrorists making their final morning prayers, before setting off to the airport.
Greengrass does not incorporate a view of hindsight for his audience, instead allowing the film to flow in the moment, with each passing event happening as the characters read it, rather than what the audience already knows occurred.
But it would be incredibly naive or incredibly patriotic (same thing) to view their actions as any attempt to "save Washington." People who think that need to get a grip.For the above reasons, this movie is simply a plane hijacking flick.
But you'd be surprised how many people, many of whom that just don't question, still don't even know that a third tower, World Trade Center 7, even collapsed; since it was not hit by a plane -- like controlled demolition.
Since this was a documentary style movie, a "real-time" account of what happened aboard F93, then I think it should have showed how the plane crashed.
After watching United 93, I feel that those doubts are irrelevant.Greengrass' directorial style, the same that he displayed in the Bourne films, is to let the characters and the action tell the story, without fanfare or fluff.
Rather, it allows the actions of the passengers (or rather, what their actions are believed to have been) and the ground crew to stand on their own.A powerful, moving film, about the courage of ordinary people on an extraordinarily terrifying day..
An excellent masterpiece that will stand the test of time.We remember those lost on that day, and this film goes above and beyond to show respect and gratitude to those Americans that gave their lives for a country they believed in.
British writer-director Greengrass incorporates these facts carefully but relies on his own artistic integrity to fill in the missing pieces and provide us with a version of the "emotional truth." What we do know is that the passengers of United 93 transformed themselves from a group of strangers to a determined force that prevented the terrorists from hitting their intended target.
Every detail of the story is told in the present tense; the narrative only knows what we would know if we were on the plane that day or in one of the flight control centers trying to piece together what was happening.
My point is that I was amazed that no one in the U.S. had any standard procedures ready for events like this and how completely unprepared they were for any attack on their own soil.Of course we will never fully know what happened on flight 93, so we will also never know how accurate this movie actually is.
I'm not sure what the artistic point is to the films the that use this technique -- looks and feels like it was done with a home, personal video camera -- but it ruined this movie for us.I noticed two ladies down the row from us having the same problem, closing their eyes and getting up and walking out for periods of time, so I know it did not just affect us.Let me interject here that before last night I really, really wanted to see this movie.
Potentially, a story of hijacked aircraft crashing faces some of the problems that affected attempts to make a movie about another iconic, era-defining human tragedy, the sinking of the Titantic 90 years earlier: for sure, it was a huge event in world history, but the basic narrative is apparently quite dull: innocent people board a transport of some description, something terrible happens and a lot of death follows.
Next, there's a natural story that isn't just one of accidental death, in the efforts of passengers on United flight 93 to resist their hijackers (hence the title of this film, although much of this movie is actually set in the air traffic and military command centres, as Greengrass sets his central tale in just the right amount of context).
I felt that I had to watch this movie to honor those who had died by watching their story of terror, bravery and heroism.The expectations I had were so off, the movie was very well made and as far as I have heard from family interviews on cable news, the passengers and flight crew was happy with the overall portrayals.The anticipation level is on high from the movies first opening shoot, we know the ending but we are hoping and on edge waiting for intervention.The movie has no political agenda and takes place in multiple locations (not just limited to the inside of the plane) as the events of September 11th unfold.This film is strong and full of emotion, there were many sobs and sniffles as the lights came up, there were also many people who clapped in honor of the bravery and heroism of the passengers and crew on United flight 93.Many theaters stated they would not show this movie due to sensitivity.
"United 93" is British director Paul Greengrass' real time account of the tragic events of United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when some passengers tried to foil the terrorist plot.
That was just a bump in the road of life for me.Now, as I reflect on the movie and review my experience, I ask myself, "Would I have taken the same actions as the passengers and crew on United 93." I hope so, but I really don't know.I have a lapel pin that honors the flight crews of all four aircraft on September 11.
Greengrass was tasked with combining fact with the unknowable and rather than glamorizing the story of United Flight 93, he told a story that was not only plausible, but likely as close to the raw truth as humanly possible.This movie is a must-see for any American who can bare to re-live that fateful day.
I'm very against the commercializing of 9/11, so chances are this is the only 9/11 film I will have watched.More of a docu-drama, United 93 focuses as much on air traffic control and military ops on that day as it does on the flight where 40 passengers stood their ground.I found this film to be very well done (the "look" and angles make it more personal, unlike Hollywood Blockbusters).
Writer/director Paul Greengrass tells the story documentary-style, with many of the actual airline and military personnel taking part in the filming.There were many New York actors whom I recognized, but most people won't be cognizant at all that they're watching actors.Several things emerge as especially striking.
In near real time and using accounts and officials records of the day, Paul Greengrass delivers an account of the events surrounding the terrorist attack on 11/9/06, focusing on the aviation authorities, the military and the passengers of the only plane that did not reach its target  United flight 93.
The story, as best as we can tell, of what happened on Flight 93 which crashed on September 11 2001 when the passengers attempted to fight back against the hijackers of the plane.This is an extremely well made and well acted film.
The film brought out a sense of futility felt by the air traffic controllers, the military, and the passengers on-board Flight 93.