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MOVIES / ON DVD / UNITED 93
United 93

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United 93 (2006)

91%
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89%
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91 %
Reviews Counted: 199 Fresh: 181  Rotten:18 Average Rating: 8.2/10
 
Consensus: Potent and sobering, United 93 is even more gut-wrenching because the outcome is already known. While difficult to watch, director Paul Greengrass' film has been made with skill and treats the subject matter with respect, never... Potent and sobering, United 93 is even more gut-wrenching because the outcome is already known. While difficult to watch, director Paul Greengrass' film has been made with skill and treats the subject matter with respect, never resorting to the aggrandizement of which Hollywood has sometimes been accused. Especially effective is the cast of mostly unknown actors, who portray the passengers of the doomed flight as ordinary people who respond with bravery to extraordinary circumstances. more
 
Rated: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Theatrical Release: 02-06-2006
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 landmark in filmmaking. Greengrass has chosen the... [More]
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 landmark in 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. And 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 centers are shown in a disoriented panic; and the terrorists are brutal and remorseless--and, to his credit, he avoids soft-pedaling 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. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Lewis Alsamari, J. J. Johnson, Gary Commock, Trish Gates, Polly Adams

Director: Paul Greengrass
Composer: John Powell
Screenwriter: Paul Greengrass

DVD Info

Release:

May 9, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Snap Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Surround Sound 5.1 - English, French, Spanish
  • Dolby Digital DVS 2.0 - English
  • Subtitles - English SDH, French, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Commentaries - 1. Paul Greengrass - Director
  • Featurettes - 1. "United 93 - The Families and the Film: Discover the Real-Life Stories Behind the Brave Passengers and Crew Aboard United Flight 93 Through Interviews With Their Familes"

Text and Photo Galleries:

  • "Memorial Pages - The Passengers and Crew of United Flight 93 are Remembered with 40 Written Biographies"

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review | Comment
01/20/07 03:45 AM
Philip French
Observer [UK]
Ratings Image

Impossible to recommend as a great Friday night out, yet agonisingly vital as thought-urging cinema.

Full Review | Comment
11/04/06 03:28 AM
Dan Jolin
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

United 93 terrifyingly conveys the nature of the threat facing the world today and poignantly conveys onscreen the decision by a few brave individuals to fight back.

Full Review | Comment
09/28/06 03:15 AM
Ali Jaafar
Sight and Sound
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With an emphasis on the facts recovered since the incident and a refusal to hold back, United 93 paints a startling and unsettling picture of one of the most terrible incidents in recent history.

Full Review | Comment
06/24/06 03:19 AM
Joe Utichi
FilmFocus
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It is the film of the year. I needed to lie down in a darkened room afterwards. So will you.

Full Review | Comment
06/03/06 03:22 AM
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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United 93 stands as a towering, unforgettable testament to the bravery of the people who died that morning.

Full Review | Comment
06/03/06 03:22 AM
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
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United 93 might be an insular response to a global tragedy, but -- taken on its own, limited terms -- it is powerful and sincere, giving reign to pity and fear without indulging jingoism or sentimentality. For that at least it deserves applause.

Full Review | Comment
06/01/06 03:16 AM
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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Gripping, harrowing and ultimately devastating, this is a powerful, visceral film with strong performances and razor-sharp direction throughout.

Full Review | Comment
06/01/06 03:16 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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It is emotionally raw yet unsentimental; it shows people at their most pained and inspirational; it is both brilliant and troubling.

Full Review | Comment
05/16/06 03:15 AM
Nev Pierce
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

It plays out in such a shockingly authentic way that we feel like we're right there. And what makes this film vitally important is the way it challenges us to examine ourselves without ever making a big statement.

Full Review | Comment
05/04/06 03:15 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

The terrorists changed the course of history on September 11 and put us all in development hell, with no third-act windup in sight.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/08 06:39 AM
Robert Cashill
Newsweek
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
11/01/07 03:15 AM
David Ansen
Newsweek
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a real-time reconstruction of events on the doomed flight that manages to encapsulate all the anxieties and sorrows of our age.

Full Review | Comment
08/10/07 12:09 PM
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film
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I can say that United 93 has been done well -- with intelligence, compassion, efficiency -- and yet still question whether it was worth doing.

Full Review | Comment
07/25/07 07:26 AM
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
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Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
07/14/07 03:20 AM
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
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The best filmmaking brings flesh to bone and there are few dancing skeletons that could use more humanity than 9/11.

Full Review | Comment
06/28/07 10:21 AM
Kevin Koehler
Pretentious Musings
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A supreme achievement.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/07 03:19 AM
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International
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Amazingly detailed in its narrative cohesion and editing, United 93 is a noble tribute to the tragedy of 9/11.

Full Review | Comment
02/07/07 10:39 AM
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy
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Greengrass recreates the attacks on the World Trade Center utilizing existing news footage and it still retains the horror of that day. Despite knowing the ultimate outcome of this film, UNITED 93 is a harrowing and important film.

Full Review | Comment
01/12/07 03:19 PM
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

Cinema verite at its very best!

Full Review | Comment
01/04/07 12:50 PM
Kam Williams
AALBC.com
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