I went to see United 93 tonight. Let’s just say it ain’t Air Force One.
First off, just as a word of caution: if you’re prone to motion sickness caused by camera shake, do NOT go see this film. I thought I had a tough time with The Bourne Supremacy a few years ago, and that was nothing compared to this. I nearly passed out a number of times, I felt so sick. Blargh. Anyway, that aside…
I don’t know why there was any worry that the film would somehow be “disrespectful” to anyone on Flight 93 or elsewhere who died on 9/11. You’ve got to be a pretty fucking stupid director to make the film, a pretty fucking stupid producer to find money to fund the film, a pretty fucking stupid studio to produce the film, and a pretty fucking stupid distribution company to put your name on the film if it was going to be disrespectful on any level so “soon” after 9/11. People are alarmist and stupid and need to get a grip.
I’ve been hearing murmurs that people were pleased the film didn’t humanize the terrorists, and I’m wondering if these people saw the same film I did. These terrorists were nothing but human: they were scared, confused, and conflicted men, and you could see it in their eyes, in their movements, in every hesitation they made. This is not to say that they’re sympathetic characters, and I don’t think anyone should mistake their humanization with sympathy. The movie humanizes them enough to allow the viewer to fully appreciate the horror of their actions; reduce them to caricatures and their actions are easy to write off as ridiculous and silly. The only part I felt actually was rather cartoonish was when the terrorist who ended up piloting the plane sat down in the pilot’s chair, he stuck a picture of the Capitol onto his steering wheel, as if to say “That’s what the building looks like that I need to crash my plane into!!1!” It was so lame. I mean, if MapQuest did flight plans, this guy totally would have printed one out and brought it with him.
Overall, though, I think the film missed it’s mark. Because as much as it wants to be about Flight 93, its passengers, and its story, it’s not and never will be. The part of the film that really did you in emotionally didn’t have anything to do with Flight 93 — not the realization of what was going on on the plane, not the chaos and terror that followed, not the resolve on the part of the passengers to go down fighting — but was the tiny little oft-seen clip of the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center. That killed me, that gutted me. I haven’t seen that footage probably since October 2001 or so, and it’s still way more wrenching than any scene cooked up by a movie studio could ever be.
Even taking the real life footage out of the equation, the plight of Flight 93 is still the least interesting part of the movie. I found the whole ground situation in the various air traffic control centres to be way more engaging. The sense of confusion, the feeling of fear, and increasing number of unknowns that were piling up on September 11 is no better illustrated than in how all the people on the ground were trying to deal with the situation. It’s in those scenes that the tension is played out brilliantly, and I think the director did a really great job with that.
If you have any inclination at all to see this movie, I would recommend seeing it in theatres rather than on DVD. I just can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch this movie at home on their own TV; something about that doesn’t quite jive with me. However, I also recommend seeing it by yourself; it’s the one occasion where I’ve seen a film and actually valued not having anyone to talk about it with immediately afterwards. I think you need a great deal of personal space when viewing it because you’re never quite sure how you’re going to react to it.