MOVIE REVIEW: United 93

UNIVERSAL REMOTE

I don't have it in me to write a full-length review of United 93. Roger Ebert's review is probably the best I've read and the most indicative of my own feelings. Please do not let my brevity be mistaken for indifference. It is nothing short of brilliant. Paul Greengrass has made a masterwork.

United 93 is one of the most gripping films I have ever seen. ("Thrilling" seems inappropriate.) There was a point in the theater where I actually became aware of my own heart pounding in my chest. The first hour, which mostly protrays air traffic controllers piecing together the terroist plot, is some of the most riveting filmmaking I have ever seen. It feels absolutely authentic. (It should since most of the actors are non-actors playing themselves, including Ben Sliney, the FAA’s operations manager, who is terrific.) There is no exposition in the entire film. You, the viewer, are figuring out what is happening exactly as the characters in the film do. This is why I reject Frank Rich calling the characters in the film "nameless stick figures." Because we are in the moment for every moment of the film, there is no place for backstory or exposition. We are those stick figures. We are those poor souls trying to figure out what to do in the face of unprecedented crisis.

The last third, when Flight 93 is taken hostage and the passengers decide to fight back, is alternately moving and horrifying. I haven't seen a film this gut-wrenching since Schindler's List, and that was all the way back in 1994. If this film had come out in 2005, it would have been my #1 film of the year. If you are a true film lover, there is no excuse not to see this movie.

NOTE: Here is an article from Popular Mechanics debunking the "missile theory," among others. I found it very convincing. Go to pages 7 and 8 for the Flight 93 specific investigation.