Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8440 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most shocking events in modern American history gets a skilled and respectful treatment in United 93. The movie begins by following the four terrorists who hijacked the plane that never reached its target on 9/11/2001, tracking them as they enter the airport and wait for their flight, surrounded by the people who will die from their actions. From there, it cuts to and fro among air traffic controllers and the military as, gradually, it becomes clear that planes are being hijacked and crashed into buildings. As the focus turns to the captive United Flight 93, the passengers discover, due to cell phone connections with family, that they're on a suicide mission and--almost paralyzed by stress and anxiety--decide to fight back. Most movies create tension by implying what might happen, but with United 93 the audience knows exactly what happened: Every person on that plane died. As a result, the movie is more relentlessly gut-wrenching than suspenseful (though the dawning realisation of the air traffic controllers has an effective creeping dread). But writer/director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) manages to keep the scale of the events human; there are no glamourous heroics, only terrifying confusion and desperate, hopeless bravery. One can only hope the movie brings some peace to the families of the passengers, as United 93 is the cinematic equivalent of a war memorial, commemorating lives lost in a moment of horrible, harrowing conflict. --Bret Fetzer

Synopsis
United 93, director Paul Greengrass's meticulous reconstruction of the events surrounding the crash--the result of a heroic struggle between the passengers and hijackers--of the fourth plane to be hijacked on September 11, 2001, is a momentous piece of filmmaking. Greengrass has chosen the most politically and emotionally charged source material available to an artist in the early 21st century, and shaped it into a psychologically draining, terrifyingly real, and technically brilliant film. Like his first feature-length work Bloody Sunday, United 93 doesn't follow a traditional cinematic narrative structure; via hand-held cameras, grainy DV stock, and frenetic editing, it instead presents a visceral (at times sickening) in-the-moment documentary-style experience that maximizes the film's unavoidable air of tension and dread without being crassly manipulative. Yet for all of its precision and craft, United 93 still depicts one of the most terrifying ordeals the United States has ever had to face--and that it was released less than five years after those events took place plays an undeniably enormous role in how the film is received. It is impossible to watch United 93 and not be profoundly moved, whether that emotion is fear, sadness, anxiety, or pure rage. It is an emotional catharsis far removed from what is the filmmaker's delicate hand and deft touch. Greengrass, though, is quite fearless in his depiction of the chaos of the day--the President is frustratingly missing; the FAC, NORAD, and local air-traffic control centres are shown in a disoriented panic; and the terrorists are brutal and remorseless--and, to his credit, he avoids soft-pedalling any political agenda and doesn't blindly canonize the flight's passengers. Rather, their heroism is treated as the product of a logical decision made by ordinary men and women who found themselves in the most extraordinary and illogical of situations and that, ultimately, is where the power of United 93 lies.

Customer Reviews

real and intense docudrama
This movie is intense, realistic, unflinching and moving. That is not to say it is a fantastic film - it is efficient and appropriate to the subject matter, but is definitely not shot in a cinematic style - it is claustrophobic and more interested in authenticity of characters and events than in exciting style - as well it should be. This works perfectly as you are never taken out of the feeling that you are actually watching the events unfold.
The movie is essentially a real time depiction of events on the plane, along with corroborating scenes in air traffic control, and especially the relatives on the receiving end of phone calls from the planes. The script and what we see has been hung primarily on the phone calls made from the plane on mobiles and air phones, giving the events a horrible authenticity. It is not the memory of two dimensional bad guys on a suicide mission you remember - the politics and response are not addressed here - it is above all the trauma and agonising loss of the people left on the ground that you remember - the real cost of the loss of United 93. It is impossible to watch and not imagine you and your loved ones in that situation - and this is where the film is a success, it makes a huge geopolitical terrorist event something personal and real to each of us.
A story of heroism in the face of tragedy that is an essential watch.

Gut-wrenchingly realistic
Having just returned from New York where I visited Ground Zero to pay my respects, I was fortunate to be there on the day this DVD was released in the USA.

Having just watched it, I can honestly say that this was an excellent account of what presumably happened aboard United 93. Although some conjecture must be allowed, this is no slick and glossy movie. Not an A-list celebrity in sight.

It's a real-time account of the last moments of some of the bravest people ever, and I cannot recommend it enough. If you get the chance to see one or two movies about the horrendous events of September 11th 2001, make this and 9/11 the ones you watch. You will likely be traumatised and shed tears, but I'm sure you will agree, that's a small price to pay.

Heart stopping film.
I was in 2 minds whether I should watch this or not. A friend of mine was convinced that these type of films shouldn't be watched as people are making money out of such an awful tradgedy. But I thought that maybe people should know what happened and there should be something to remember the events by.

Glad that I watched this though as I do think its a fitting tribute to the bravery of the people on the plane. Takes a lot to make me cry at a film, but this one did. But even though its a film about such a sad event, somehow it manages to avoid been a depresseng film.