Review of United 93 (2006) by Dillinger P — 23 Mar 2015

It's almost impossible to think of anyone who didnt sit is sheer disbelieve at their tv screens, radios and windows on September 9/11 2001. Hailed as the worst terrorist attack ever, the world stopped and we all felt a sheer disbelief at the events of those day.

Now although since then barrage upon barrage of controversy and conspiracy theory now shrouds the events of those day and to what extent of their true nature it really depends on who you speak to. However United 93 isnt hear to lecture us on government plans, terrorist organisations and conspiracy, it exists solely to recreate the experience we all felt that day and more importantly the effect of everyone involved.

United 93 is not an enjoyable movie, this is not a fitting dedication to the atrocity, this is outright stressful to watch. Basically we jump between the terrorist attackers of UN93, the air force, the FAA and the regional air traffic controllers who were on duty that morning, where 4 US commercial planes were taken from the pilots and used as missiles into the Twin Towers, Pentagon and in this films case the botched Plane that crash landed due to passenger interfierence.

Paul Greengrass sticks with his hand cam style which adds a sense of realism and immersion for a piece that could easily be approached in the wrong way. This style makes you feel like a participant rather that a film goer, to that we must give it credit, this film is truly immersive and even though we know the outcome, we still sit praying the last surviving plane makes it out alive.

Luckily Greengrass also decides not to focus heavily on any designated character, rather he gathers huge ensemble actors, to play out the very realistic and spiralling out of control sequences, hats off to him for orchestrating such a feat and not coming across as one sided or ham fisted.

Even the terrorists, although clearly the bad guys, still feel human and their actions completely believable, rather than typical antagonist stereotype. Because of all this though, the film suspends the movement of time, meaning that what essentially is just under 2 hours worth of film, feels like an enternity to end because you are so stressed out while watching it.

There is so much going on it helps that it bounces between the segments we need to seen, however the film does spend an awful lot of time gearing up, its not a major gripe but it would have been interesting to see this film play out solely from the perspective of the flight itself.

Thus cutting some time off and honing in the experience. that aside it captures everything in an honest and as unoffensive manner as possible. I condone this, too many films are quick to fly on the almighty America band wagon and its good to see someone take a more human and less gung ho attitude towards the subject matter.

It's tasteful and stressful and definately not a film I would watch over and over. However as a harsh reminder of a horrible time, this film pretty much hits the nail on the head.