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United 93
2006
A real time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot. Read more
| Starring | JJ Johnson, Polly Adams, Opal Alladin, Starla Benford |
|---|---|
| Director | Paul Greengrass |
| Genres | Drama |
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United 93
A real time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
| Starring | JJ Johnson, Polly Adams, Opal Alladin, Starla Benford, Trish Gates, Nancy McDoniel, Chloe Sirene |
|---|---|
| Director | Paul Greengrass |
| Studio | UNIVERSAL PICTURES VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 30 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 02 Oct 2006 Production year: 2006 |
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Most helpful member's review
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163 out of 166 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
United 93
United 93 is an absolutely brilliant film but I'll almost certainly never watch it again.
I can picture the HOLLYWOOD version of this story: Todd Beamer is played by Tom Cruise or someone like that. 'Let's Roll' is the poster's tagline (the poster, by the way, is a big plane only rather than black the sillhouette is red white and blue) and the last 15 minutes is an action film in which Beamer grabs the controls but cant pull out of the dive in time.
This is NOT Paul Greengrass' film.
United 93 is a deeply serious, utterly real reconstruction in almost real time of not just the events on flight 93 but those surrounding it in the various control rooms and in New York.
One of Greengrass' masterstrokes is to have many people, including Ben Sliney, who on his first day in a new job had to deal with a terrorist emergency and shut down the sky over the whole of the United States, play themselves. The cast, for the most part, use documented words. Much of the conversation the day was recorded and is quoted verbatim in the film, the conversations between the passengers and crew on 93 are largely improvised.
Every member of the cast is excellent and none are known faces. This aids the film immesurably as having one person you recognise would irrevocably pop the bubble, destroy the almost documentary authenticity Greengrass creates in the instatnt you go 'oh look, it's that guy from that thing'.
United 93 is a visceral, difficult experience, it's a film i reacted to physically. First is the nausea as the crew and passengers embark on 93 as if it's a normal day and the air traffic controllers around the US do their jobs, not knowing what you know.
Then came the tears. Twice. Well, I say twice. I cried first when the planes hit the twin towers (the original news footage is used again here and despite endless repeats it has lost none of its power) and I spent much of the last 15 minutes, beginning with the phone calls to loved ones made from 93 (and here enacted according to transcripts) and ending with a black screen wiping my eyes.
It's not entertaining, and shouldn't be. In time i think United 93 will stand alongside Schindler's List as one of cinema's best and most upsetting historical documents and it is a testament to how well Greengrass and his cast and crew have pulled off what seemed to me impossible at this stage that I never want to revisit this film. -
Most recent members' review
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8 out of 9 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
A tribute and a window on the happenings on 9-11.
Similar to its sister film 'Flight 93' on the exact same subject but this is less dramatised with more of a documentary feel, this therefore just seems somehow more 'real' and less staged. Because of this, and the background life stories of the victims on the disc, I found the impact of the film stronger. If you were to watch one then I would watch this, though both are worthy of a viewing. A window into the horrors of living in a modern world where enemies aren't wearing different uniforms across a border, but could be Joe normal sat on the next seat within your border. Disturbing. but recommended
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