United 93
There's a car chase in The Bourne Supremacy, Paul Greengrass' previous film, which is so visceral that all 10 knuckles turn white while gripping the theater armrests tighter and tighter until the chase reaches its conclusion in a spectacular crash in a Moscow tunnel. United 93 projects the same force from start to finish; only previous knowledge of the events unfolding before your eyes, and the fact that these were real people who sacrificed themselves to save maybe thousands of others, intensifies the experience exponentially. The movie unfolds in real time, recreating the events of that horrible day as best as it can by piecing together air traffic control and military air command transcripts and the actual phone calls from the crew and passengers to authorities and loved ones around the country. Greengrass' signature handheld camera approach is disturbingly effective in its ability to create the fly-on-the-wall illusion of actually being there. Outstanding performances from a no-name cast (you may recognize a few faces), as well as several of the air traffic controllers on that day who play themselves, makes the verisimilitude of the film jarring and thoroughly sincere. Even from the comfort of my own couch, watching United 93 was the biggest emotional beating I've taken while watching a movie in a long time. It's an eminently important film—one I'm sure I'll never watch again.
- February 8, 2007
DVD Extras
A documentary on several of the passengers' families, some of whom meet the actors playing their loved ones; memorial pages with details of all 40 passengers and the crew; audio commentary by Greengrass; and a trailer for some NBC show about two brothers (a cop and a fireman) who died at the World Trade Center.