Techtite's DVD Reviews!

"There is no finer respect that Hollywood could have given to the heroes aboard this flight, and their bravery."

--from the review

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United 93

Click picture to order this DVD (Two Disc Special Edition Reviewed)

A Review by Techtite

As always, a review of The Film and the DVD extras.

Film Review: Could there have been a better time to release this film? Not really. Ask not what the naysayers insist is "too soon" for the release of any movie about 9/11. The truth is: some Americans, as early as now, are beginning to forget that 9/11 even happened, with at least one well-known celebrity even arguing that the World Trace Center Towers were "demolished" on purpose somehow, not realizing that many NYC residents were actually there when the planes hit the towers.

Yet the purpose of United 93 is not to recreate every event of September 11th, 2001, but rather to honor the bravery of the passengers aboard United Airlines flight 93, who prevented yet another plane from killing even more innocent people, at the cost of their own lives. Yet this is a story that needs to be told with respect, and here, I feel, that respect was justly given. There is no John Williams soundtrack in the background. There is no narration by a Hollywood actor, telling you how to feel and when. This film's approach is as respectful as it is effective.

Mind you; what happened on that flight is only part of the story, even for a story centering on that one flight. Some may insist that a fourth plane would've "never" reached its target. Others may simply wonder what the air traffic controllers, FAA, and other flight experts were doing at the time. This film recreates as much of this as possible, with the action moving from the military officials on the ground, to the FAA headquarters, to the local air traffic towers, as well as the actual flight.

I particularly liked how the movie did not try and recreate events based on what we know now, but rather uses only information as-it-happened that same day. These passengers did not have the luxury of a CNN special news report, or a History Channel documentary. They had to slowly discern that these terrorists were up to, in the span of only a few fleeting minutes. The film's non-narrative approach further illustrates this, giving us a clearer view of what most likely went through these passenger's minds as it happened. Said passengers were told only in minutes what was happening on the ground, and what their plane was going to be used for. They acted swiftly, bravely, and quite courageously.

Yet the real effectiveness of these scenes is how, wherever possible, writer/director Paul Greengrass cast the actual people who lived the event. Ben Sliney, the FAA's chief of air traffic control that day, plays himself. So do flight controllers Rick Tepper and Greg Callahan, as well as a few others. This isn't meant to belittle the actors portraying real-life people in the film, who do their parts respectfully and effectively. Yet the key task here is to show realism in a true story about average people doing an extradordinary act of courage in not-so-average circumstances. There was no Bruce Willis in the control tower to save them unrealistically. There was no Wesley Snipes as "Passenger 57." These passengers were all alone, yet in the end, they became heroes.

But...Did this story have to be told "now"...? I would say yes. If they waited as long as, say, the movie Titanic, we would've had some Hollywood fat cat make a mockery of a tragedy by putting two completely fictitious caricatures in the forefront of the story, while the core tragedy played as mere window dressing in the background. We'd have people who would act like an exact recreation of the events was "secondary" to Hollywood tinsel magic. In short we'd have garbage. But United 93 is much grander than that. It's a simple movie about how simple people did an extraordinary act of bravery in a moment's notice. It's a story that needs to be told now...and for years to come.

---Techtite

The DVD Extras!: Personally, if you're going to buy this DVD, I can't see doing so and not getting the two-disc special edition. The reasons are all in how the extras literally honor those who were affected by 9/11. Disc one begins this honorarium with a documentary about "Families and the Film," which chronicles how the cast and crew interacted with the relatives and friends of the real United Flight 93. If any passive aggressive naysayer wonders why they made this movie; show them this documentary, then show them the film.

Other extras on disc one include a "Memorial Pages" offers an even more poignant reminder of the people aboard that flight, including descriptions of each person, and the surviving friends, lovers, and family members they left behind. Then there is the typical commentary track for the film, though not so typical, perhaps, given the impactful film it describes.

The second disc, rather surprisingly, is all one big extra feature; an actual documentary, about the real people behind this story. Many of these people, whose jobs were on the "ground" when all this took place, star as themselves in the film. It's a more thorough report of the actions taken "on the ground" when United Flight 93 was still in flight, and is a perfect enhancement to this DVD edition.

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