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David Alan Basche, Richard Bekins, Susan Blommaert, Ray Charleson, Christian Clemenson ... see more see more... , Khalid Abdalla , Lewis Alsamari , Ben Sliney , Major James Fox , Gregg Henry , Omar Berdouni , Denny Dillon , Peter Hermann , Marceline Hugot , Joe Jamrog , Peter Marinker , Jodie Lynne McClintock , Libby Morris , Tom O'Rourke , David Rasche , Michael J. Reynolds , John Rothman , Chip Zien , Leigh Zimmerman , Simon Poland , Rebecca Schull , Tara Hugo , Erich Redman , Lorna Dallas , Corey Johnson , Polly Adams , Nancy McDoniel , Starla Benford , Becky London , Opal Alladin , Kate Jennings Grant , Liza Colon-Zayas , Olivia Thirlby , Chloe Sirene , Daniel Sauli , Cheyenne Jackson , Gary Commock , Trieste Kelly Dunn , Trish Gates , Masato Kamo , Jamie Harding , J.J. Johnson

Bloody Sunday director Paul Greengrass marks the five-year anniversary on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States with this speculative meditation on the events that took place ... read more read more...onboard the fourth hijacked plane, and the actions of the passengers who gave their lives to ensure the safety of others. Told in real time and acted out by a cast of unknowns who were provided with detailed studies of their real-life counterparts, United 93 attempts to reconstruct the airborne tragedy from the view of the ground and flight controllers, the passengers, and their nervous families awaiting word on the fate of their loved ones. As the terrified travelers and crew gradually become aware of the historical events taking place on the ground so far beneath them, the 90 minutes in which a random collection of strangers realized their fate and came together to confront an unthinkable threat are re-created. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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77% liked it

122,917 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

200 critics

R, 1 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Paul Greengrass

Release Date: April 28, 2006

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DVD Release Date: September 5, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (9,184)

  • blkbomb
    February 12, 2012
    blkbomb
    Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.: We have to do something, they are not going to land this plane.

    "United they stood."

    United 93 tells the story of the one plane that doesn't reach the terrorists planned destination. It tells in extraordinary detail the events of the day from the ground... read more and from the United 93 airplane. This movie is a sobering and terrifying film that looks real and makes you almost feel like you are in the plane too.

    This story isn't an easy one to tell. Any minor detail could seem like exploitation if used in the wrong way, but this was done in such a fashion where you can tell Greengrass wasn't just using the events of that day, but telling a story about real life heroes. When the terrorists took the plane over, the passengers gathered near the back of the plane and came up with a plan to try to retake the plane. They knew the pilots didn't have control of the plane and they also knew that planes had been hitting the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. So they acted in such a way that saved the lives of who knows how many people.

    This isn't the easiest movie to get through. A lot of it is watched in a quiet trance, as you wish the story could end differently, but you know it won't. The starless cast makes this movie feel like real life. We aren't watching Russel Crowe or Brad Pitt in the plane trying to retake it. We are watching strangers and it goes a long way in making the film feel much more real.

    United 93 mauy end up going down as the best movie ever made on 9/11. There's going to be many more made I'm sure, but this one just grabs the viewer and makes them relive the dread of that day through the people that had to endure that, and I'm not sure if another film about that day will ever be able to accomplish that as well as United 93.
  • paulkoh110
    January 25, 2012
    paulkoh110
    Strong and powerful, the film pays a strong tribute to those on 9/11.
  • fb729949618
    October 26, 2011
    fb729949618
    Sad, sad, sad, and sad because these events really happened on one of the most terrifying days in American history. I love films that grab a hold of your mind and make you forget that you are watching a film, making you feel as if you are really there. United 93 does that with un... read moreknown actors and a small setting (a plane). A truly remarkable film and is a must see.
  • cosmo313
    September 27, 2011
    cosmo313
    Though I had wanted to see this, it was certainly not a film I was really looking forward to watching like I would with most other films on my watch list. I had heard all about this movie, and was compelled from the very beginning. It just took me a while to get around to it beca... read moreuse I knew I'd have to be in the right kind of mood.

    Told in real time and utilizing a combination of cinema verite, subtle special effects, news footage, and unparalled amounts of detailed research, this is a history based docudrama about the events of September 11, 2001, specifically the events surrounding the hijaking of United Airlines Flight 93- the only airplane that did not make it to the planned attack location.

    The film follows not only the passengers, crew, and terrorists on the plane, but also the various groups of people on the ground at air traffic control stations, and various other related facilities. The film is structred and executed in an intimate documentary style with the audience feeling as if they are right in the middle of the action. The recreation of events is feverishly faithful and respectful, though some liberties of specifically how some events took place (mostly the ones on the plane) had to be left to the imagination. Even then, the film is a gripping and unrelenting look at the choas and confusion that took place that day, as well as the strength and heroism of the plane pasengers who uinted as a group to foil the hijackers and save even more lives from being taken, even at the cost of their own.

    This can be a very hard film to watch at times, and it was purposely desigend to elicit a reaction or emotion out of the audience. There is no correct way to react to this film. It is just a recreation of the events and just shows them in a very realistic and unsettling manner. Some valid nit picks I do have though are that, given the film being an exercise in emmersing the audience in emotional distress and hooror, it is legitimate to question this film's existence given that no real catharsis is given. I will say that the fact that the film doesn't ty to give answers or commentary, isn't propaganda, and is very much apolitical makes it a stronger and much more of an experience than a piece of entertainment. It is an important film, even if it is a dramatization, because even speculation can be useful as a historical document.

    The direction is extremely sharp and focused, the performances are very nuanced and tasteful, and the music is veery emotional and swelling. What is absolutely brilliant with this film though are the cinematography and tight, handheld camera work, and the impressive editing. Three editors were employed to cut and compile all of the footage together, trying to makle sure it stayed as true to reality as possible, which is made even more difficult given how the film jumps from location to location quite frequently in order to show all the events happening at the various places in real time in sequential order. It's a real shame those editors and the film itself was not acknowledged at the Oscars, because there is some truly superior work on display.

    As I mentioned above, there is no correct way to react to this movie, but it is impossible to not have a reaction of some sort. You'd really have to have some serious issues to experience this and not feel something. Though this film is a very harrowing and stirring piece of work, it would be just as strong and powerful if it were entirely fictional and had no connection to real events whatsoever. That is how excellent it is.
  • thmtsang
    September 11, 2011
    thmtsang
    This is a true story about the fourth plane that was hijacked on 9/11 bound for Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Passengers use their mobile phones to contact relatives. They realise that the World Trade Center has been hit and with great courage attack the hijackers, bringing down... read more the plane. No one survived the crash but they probably saved many lives by not letting it reach its destination.
  • murphmann93
    June 23, 2011
    murphmann93
    Outstanding and such a brave yet heartbreaking story! They are all heroes!
  • coollala0910
    May 2, 2011
    coollala0910
    I can't stop thinking about the man who was killed yesterday. You know who I'm talikg 'bout, right? He was one of the main men behind 9/11, an event that will never be forgotten by us Americans. Yesterday will probably go down in history. Paul Greengrass, director of the last two... read more Bourne movies, made a very good movie about the events that occured on that tragic day.

    Here is a film that was so emotional. Even the opening credits were emotional. We see one of the men aboard Flight 93 and discover that he was a family man. My heart literally stopped beating at this very scene. "United 93" is an film that everyone knows how it ends. If you say, "I didn't like this movie because it was so predictable!", go jump off a cliff! The film is character-driven and we get a glimpse of almost everyone on the plane's backgrounds.

    The entire film was intense. The credits even leave you speechless. The dialogue was intense, the shooting technique was intense, "United 93" is an intense film, period. The film features a talented no-name cast that we become very attatched to. We weep with them, we yell with them, we're with them the entire way. The film was edited and shot excellently and may just be one of the most powerful films you will ever see!

    Before we all go nuts on Friday to see "Thor", I suggest we take some time to remember those who were lost in this event by giving "United 93" a watch. You really should.

    "Sit and I will go you the sign."
  • DreamExtractor
    April 21, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    A chilling and haunting film, a true dedication to those who died on 9/11. David Greenglass has made a masterpiece. I loved this movie, it had no famous actors just people with talent, a intense and dramatic plot, and realistic scenes of what was close to happening on United 93.
  • stevenecarrier
    March 4, 2011
    stevenecarrier
    Paul Greengrass' "United 93" is a curious film. There will never be anything quite like it, ever again. On it's surface, "United 93" is the prime example of fictional Cinema Verite filmmaking. Underneath, "United 93" is an important reenactment of what happened during the terrori... read morest attacks of September 11, 2001. Greengrass deftly balances facts, with emotion, chaos with real heroism. The real star of this film, though, is cinematographer Barry Akroyd who transports you to this very urgent time and place. "United 93" is an extraordinary and unforgettable motion picture.
  • garyX
    January 21, 2011
    garyX
    United 93 is a thankfully unsentimental recreation of what happened on the only hijacked passenger airliner that did not reach its target on the day that changed the world. Paul "Bourne" Greengrass brings a very documentary like approach to the story, making it feel very much li... read moreke a reconstruction rather than a drama. It has exactly the same mix of the everyday and the utterly surreal that that fateful day had for me, and the footage of the World Trade Centre gave me the same hollow, empty and slightly nauseous feeling I had at the time. There are no Hollywood style "heroes" or irrelevant soap opera bullshit concerning the passengers; it merely provides an accurate (as far as the known facts fit) depiction of what happened on the plane as the passengers realized what was happening and stepped up to do something about it. The extreme sense of realism is helped by the minimalist score and lack of famous faces, although I have to say that even the sight of David Rasche (hardly a big name celebrity) did dispell the illusion somewhat for me. You do spend a little too much of the first hour looking at people looking at computer screens, but the final twenty minutes show the terror and desperation of the situation in a totally believeable way and is very intense and emotionally affecting. This is no doubt added to by the fact that throughout these scenes there was an image in my head I couldn't shake; it was the footage I saw in Fahrenheit 9/11 of George W. sitting in a primary school classroom with his thumb up his ass while all of this was happening.

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
December 26, 2006
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Greengrass takes pains to keep events believable and relatively unrhetorical, rejecting entertainment for the sake of sober reflection, though one has to ask how edifying this is apart from its reduct... Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann
May 12, 2006
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

This limitation in source material has had a peculiar effect on the script. Never is there a moment of repulsive sentimentality or exploitation, but neither is Greengrass able to realize an ultimate p... Full Review

Andrew Sarris
May 3, 2006
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

Even the undeniable heroism of the passengers on United 93 doesn't edify as it should. Full Review

Peter Howell
April 28, 2006
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

... this is a picture we all must see. Full Review

Dana Stevens
April 28, 2006
Dana Stevens, Slate

... left me feeling curiously unmoved and even slightly resentful. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
April 28, 2006
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

... a powerful and thoughtful dramatization of the terrorist crash of United Flight 93 ... Full Review

Jack Mathews
April 28, 2006
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

It is a docudrama done with great sensitivity, and with unerring judgment in the writing and in the depiction of the passengers and hijackers. Full Review

Robert Denerstein
April 28, 2006
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

Others have attempted to tell us about Flight 93, but Greengrass may have made the definitive account, allowing his movie to unfold in real time.

Ty Burr
April 28, 2006
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

... you come out feeling that the filmmakers have done the right thing by this day. Full Review

Steven Rea
April 28, 2006
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

There's no way to watch United 93, Paul Greengrass' heartbreaking, pulse-pounding drama about the lone hijacked commercial airliner that failed to reach its target on Sept. 11, 2001, and not anticipat...

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