Believe The Hype

United 93 (5/5 stars)

Wow. This is simply an excellent movie that deserves every single bit of hype it has been getting. I went into seeing it knowing why it would be bad, and almost hoping for it to be as I like being right, but it simply surprised me in every possible way.

What I expected from United 93 were several things. I thought it would be a showcase of the heroic actions of the passengers aboard the fatal flight that day, mythologizing them, but it is more told as a story of people who simply are scared out of their minds and want to save themselves and see their families again. I expected it to be overly melodramatic, manipulative and sentimental about the events of that day, but it was very gritty and realistic. I expected it to be politically exploitative agitprop but it was not. The movie simply has a narrow focus on the flight itself and the air traffic controllers and military groups who are watching it. Almost the entire movie is shown in real time; we do not learn anything about what the passengers on the plane or the workers in the air traffic control centers were like before the events took place, and we do not see anything of the aftermath. The only points which reference the attacks are from the viewpoint workers on the ground who see the second plane hit the World Trade Center on CNN.

One thing that most people probably don't realize about the movie before seeing it is that it is just as much about the the military and air traffic control personnel monitoring the situation of the morning as it is about the passengers of the flight. One story that is told very well is the complete lack of competence in getting any kind of response to the situation started. You know what is about to happen but you can feel the pain of the people trying to figure out what is going on and get something done as unpreparedness and bureacracy create roadblocks for any hope of preventing further catastrophe.

Not telling the backstories of the characters works so well because it allows the movie to focus on the intense, gripping drama as it unfolds rather than spending time on unnecessary character arcs that a lesser movie might have included (like the normally bad guy who turns good to save the day, etc); even though you already know as much as you can about the events of that day the movie draws you in so well you can't look away for a second, the urgency of the situation continually builds over the course of the movie and the last parts of the movie are some of the most masterfully done suspense film work I've ever seen.

Even if this movie were not based on real events (and let's face it, even though much of the movie takes place off the plane, where the information is more accurate, much of it does not, and guesswork needs to be done), it would still be one of the better thriller movies I've ever seen. The fact that this was real only adds a heavy emotional impact to it all. If you are not of the "it is too soon" camp regarding this, I highly recommend it. Although it is very early, this is definitely going to be one of the very best movies to come out this year.