A-. It was utterly amazing while watching it, but it impact has already begun to diminish despite less than 10 hours after having watched it. I don't know how well it will hold up at the end of the year.

I'll see it next week. Should be interesting.

I was about to post, "I'm eager to hear the thoughts of a non-American on the film."

But then I realized, you know, there's really not much separating the perception of 9/11 of someone like me, who lives in Texas, from a Europen, pretty much except for the fact that I live on American soil. I think the film could be just as riveting for you as it was for me.

Nonetheless, I'm eager to hear your thoughts.

Well, speaking as a european: It is clearly the best movie of the last few years

Wow - even Neptune has joined the EU now?

I'm also looking forward to being Lecterfied!

If 9/11 had never happened, and this film were purely an original story created for film, I would have been amazed and shocked all the same. Infact, I'm sure I would have "enjoyed" it even more, since there is no way I could have prepared myself for what I was about to see, since there would be no reference point. Greengrass simply did a really good job.

The film totally had me in it's grasp from the moment it started to the moment it ended, thanks to Greengrass' direction of the film. The film was incredibly well structured and well paced with strong use of music (used appropriately and sparingly). The film captured the chaotic atmosphere of the actual day, showing the lack of communication. Not even really the lack of communication, but the complications and the weirdness of the communication, which settled across several different levels of authority and several different places. It was hard, to put it lightly, for the people in charge that day. Very hard. Filmed scenes were seamlessly incorporated with the live feed from the actual day, and I was pretty surprised by the restraint. They didn't even show the first plane hit the tower, or the third plane hit the pentagon. Just one lead up and one hit to show the shock and horror on their faces.

The last 20 minutes of this film, or even more particularly, the last minute of this film, are absolutely phenomenal. Mesmerizing, really. Terrifying and emotional and just perfectly pitched, edited and executed.

A really strong A. One of the best films I have seen in a long time. It was technically and emotionally fulfilling.

PEACE, Mike.

I rarely give Fs to films. This is one of the few.

God awful from beginning to end. Boring, trite, worthless. It tries so hard to come off non-committal in the whole affair, never truly villifying the terrorists or portraying any of the passengers or ground personnel in any light other than tepid. It's a pussy-footed re-telling of events featuring completely uninteresting (not to mention terribly, terribly acted - none moreso than that Boston chief flight controller bloke) characters and very little in the way of tension.

That it takes so long to get going is bad enough. But does it make me a bad person to say that I didn't give a shit if the plane went down or not by the end?

It's essentially an hour and a quarter of boring build up, 15 minutes of harried, blubbering phone calls to loved ones and 5 minutes of frenetic, hard to see action as the passengers turn on their captors. And god... the acting... so bad.

F

Poppycock.

It was poppycock (albeit quality poppycock), though I'm surprised you agreed with Snrub...



(BTW -- where's that Dr. Lecter review?!?)

No, no...

I meant... Snrub's review? Poppycock!

I'm interested in this movie, for once I have absolutely no idea how I'll feel about a flick. Most movies I know if they'll land in a B range, C+ at worst, but this can go all the way from a F to an A+ for me. I just have no clue. I'm also not American, in fact I think the entire WTC debacle is overhyped and overrated as "the most important event", I don't give a fuck about the entire disaster, it's just never emotionally done anything for me. So I'll be looking at it with my eyes open.

I can't believe it doesn't come out for another bloody month.

A-


There isn't much to be said that hasn't already been by the fans of this film in this very thread.

It is very effective, I mean very effective. It's not as devastating as some people are saying. While it was depressing and sad to witness the happenings on the screen, the depressing feeling did not stick with me once the film was over. This, however, in no way diminishes the film's quality. Many people talk about how great the final 10-15 minutes are. Well, they are great. But framkly, I found the first half of the film to be equally thrilling. I think my heartbeat was at 120/minute throughout the whole film. There is just this constant present feeling of dread during the feature and you can't get rid of it. I mean you know what is going to happen, yet you see everyday images on the screen and know that for almost all people it was just a normal day that would end in a way no one of them had ever expected. This feeling of dread rises immensly once AA11 disappears from the radar.

What follows are flawlessly edited bits and pieces of action inside of the U93, in the Air Traffic Control stations and in the US Air Force department. You feel the incapability of people to deal with an event of this unprecedence. You see their loss of control. The image of the people from the airport towers watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center and the following expressions on their faces are just devastating. The whole chaos and ignorance, confusion and fear on that day was captured perfectly. There is not an ounce of patriotism in this film and the political message here, if you search for one, would be very slight. This is a passive film, it takes a distance and it succeeds completely.

There are two things I didn't like. One of them is the shaky cam that I have never been a fan of and will never get used to. The other is the utterly unnecessary writing after the final frame of the film. I wish they just ended the film with its last shot, that'd have been perfect and elevated the impact of the film on the audience even more.

Otherwise it was a great film, but like Dkmuto, not necessarily one I'd recommend to other people. It is not for everyone. It made me relive 9/11 in a way I had not experienced it till now (living in Germany and such...).

The best film of the year! Gripping, powerful, emotional, intense, and an embodiment of the triumphant American spirit, that history has always shown to be at it's best when attacked.

The use of no name actors really lended to the credibility that these were just strangers on an airplane. Faceless people in a crowd. The shaky cam made me feel like I was on that plane. The pacing was note perfect, as the events unfolding felt like real time as it happened. The ending was incredibly powerful and sudden, as the plane, simulated by the camera, plummeted toward the ground, and on impact, the screen goes black. The end.

Wow!

I was interviewed by the news after I saw this, as one of our local female new achors was sitting right across the isle from me. (I would have recognized her if I would have glanced over, but I was totally engrossed with the film, and then on the way out, I was behind her and checking out her butt. It wasn't until she turned around and asked if she could get an interview that I recognized her.

It will take one hell of a movie to bump this from my #1 slot this year.

A

I still find it incredibly strange that Denny Dillon is in the movie (SNL, Saturday Night Fever). Such an odd casting choice.

You're saying that we need to remove our feelings of 9/11 in order to properly critique this film.

And yet you're hanging on to the questionable decision of the... casting of obscure actors?

Let's reconsider where we need to let go of things!

two completely seperate things but nice try.

A filmmaker can't go the cast unknowns route and hire an actress from a popular 70's movie.

I have seen Saturday Night Fever. Yet, I've never heard the actor's name and certainly don't know his face.

maybe because its a girl.

To all the people that hated this movie: which film did you see, exactly?

I have always loathed the 9/11 hoopla as a load of arrogant self-important bullshit, but enjoyed United 93 as a well-made film. If the story was entirely fictional, the movie would have resonated equally.

I really can't possibly find anything wrong with the movie. It was just as incredible, realistic, and harrowing as everyone has made it out to be. It's not something I can see myself watching often, but it was an incredible, incredible movie. I'll admit that I was in tears for most of the last 15 minutes, and I don't know anyone who was connected to the events of that day. I'm giving United 93 an A+, something I try as hard as I possibly can to never do on first viewings, but I really feel like I have to here.

Finally saw the whole thing. I caught most of it, including the last half-hour, while it was playing in my theatre, but I held off reviewing it until I'd see the whole thing, all the way through. I also tried to detach my emotional reaction from my critical one, which was easier after seeing it a second time. So, my review:

A very emotionally powerful finale does not make this a perfect movie, or even a great one, though it is an important one. For the most part, it felt more like a documentary than a fictional, creatively crafted film, which works, I guess, but made it confusing and even boring at times. The beginning hour or so, which focused mostly on the air traffic controllers, FAA, and military, was the prime culprit of this, and I felt like a was watching a doc much more than a film. The scenes which focus on the flight itself are by far the strongest, because it feels very real, raw, and moving. The shaky cam works best here, because it feels like you're part of the action, rather than watching it. Unfortunately, not enough time is spent developing the story on the flight, and it feels shortchanged by the end of it. The mix of unknown actors and people playing themselves makes it very realistic, though not necessarily better. The ending is very emotional, perhaps the most of any film I've seen, but it doesn't make the entire film better - just the ending. Overall, a good film that is very realistic, but also overrated.

Coming in, my approach to this movie was much different than the majority of members here. I am Canadian, and on top of that I was too young on the real Sept. 11th to actually care about the event emotionally. In fact I've always felt that the entire tradgedy was a tad overhyped, it is in my opinion neither near the biggest tragedy in history, nor the most important event, to state things simple. I have NO emotional connection to 9/11, at all. So I have the advantage of grading this as a movie without the message, and overall I have to say I was underwhelmed, the more I think of it the less I like of it actually.

What makes this such a great movie? What makes this deserving of being on the most acclaimed films of this decade? Because when it gets down to it, I don't know what does. It doesn't have a deep or compelling storyline or plot, in fact the film is mostly a film rolling in the middle of all the events of that day, the plot is not an intriguing one, we already know what happens and it is just not stimulating. The acting by the unknowns is mostly unremarkable, you can say they were the real people, but that does not make it better. There isn't any particular characters to feel for in this film, in fact you don't really get anyone's name except for Ben, nobody gets any development. Really, the movie just screams average, it's a camera filming 9/11 reactions + the people on the plane, in an almost documentary style way. And that is the best movie of the decade?

For me film is all about storytelling, stories in general whether it be from celluoid, television, or books, are my life, my love. When I watch a movie I'm looking for a great story, fueled by great characters. And United 93 does not cut the grade as a story, I'm sorry. An hour of the camera filming reactions inside an airport, then 30 minutes of people being scared and then rising up to fight down a plane, I don't see the brilliance in that. Certainly the last couple minutes, with the struggle against the cockpit, was filmed in a very exciting and thrilling way, and I commend the movie for that, but one powerful scene means nothing with the rest of the movie being mostly worthless.

C

The tragedy is...overhyped?

I personally don't think that makes any sense, but whatever. September 11 was a terrorist attack, not some overrated television show, Shack.

I would have to agree that the 3,000 deaths in 2001, are massively overhyped, say, compared to the nearly million dead in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Of course that doesn't account for the American/Foreigner Tragedy Exchange Rate (A.F.T.E.R.), which is particularily bad in Africa -- even accounting for the inflation in the intervening seven years between 1994 and 2001, you're still gonna need at least 250 African deaths if you wanna even think about investing in the Global Tragedy Exchange Market (G.T.E.M.)...