United 93 - A review ***LONG***

[tdarko]

Dom,

Let me clarify a little bit. I needed some damn TUMS for the takeover, or the build-up to when they were going to take over the plane. Very intense stuff, some of the more intense stuff in a while...mostle b/c of the camera work and the fact that it seemed real and you know its real. But there was a period in time when it kept going chaotically from air traffic control to the head of air traffic control to "get me the military!" to the military saying "we can't do anything, can we engage?" Rinse. Repeat. It just got old to me is all.

FWIW, I thought the most affecting part of the movie is still the planes crashing into the Towers.

[Alobar]

I hadnt planned on seing this movie, just figured it was gunna be some over hyped propaganda film, that villified the terrorists and made the people on the plane look like giant heros.

Your review however has me interested in seeing it since it sounds like thats not the case.

[cdxx]

Dom,

i respect your review, i disagree with you completely. i didn't care if it was too soon or too late, reminded/relived arguments.

the documentary style made it very boring. i did not care about anyone in the movie. seriously. i cared about the event, but not the people, although that may be because living through it pretty much desenticized me. this is not about character development or anything else. to me, the screenplay was a chronological timeline, with some blank slates speaking empty lines. i hated the sugary sweetness of the heroism.

************ SPOILER ALERT **********************

my worst reaction was to the conversation on the phone right before the end. you'll know when you see it. the prayer. i hated it with a passion, but it had nothing to do with the movie. maybe i'll write it up in the Politics/Religion forum.

[BarronVangorToth]

[ QUOTE ]
we are in the slow months of movies and basically the garbage is out right now, then the summer sequels and blockbusters, then the fall and winter you get into the Oscar stuff that gets all of the attention.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very true. I don't think I'm too picky and I like a lot of stuff that most film fans will frown upon (like "Eight Below" - although that's mostly because I like movies with animals like this, March of the Penguins, Two Brothers, Homeward Bound, etc. etc.) but it just seems like it has been a particularly bad 2006 thusfar, especially since, you're right, "Three Burials" isn't even a 2006 movie (it wasn't around here until like two months ago).

As to the movie at hand, it's cool that it worked for some people like Dom, and I don't have any issue with anything technical or the performances, but just the movie as a whole drew no emotion whatsoever from me and barely kept my attention. I stand behind my comparison earlier that I imagine people that really enjoyed Munich will like this as well.

[weevil]

I thought the movie was well done, both cinematically and with respect to the focus of the movie. The acting was very believeble and moving, on all accounts.

I felt very dirty after watching the movie though, and I'm probably in a huge minority. Up until the very end, I found myself sympathizing somewhat with the terrorists. Not in the sense that I agreed with their ideals or fanaticism, but simply that these men cared enough about something to give their lives up to something greater than themselves, and there is something great and noble in that.

As Dominic said, the cast of characters is unremarkable, and reminds us of any random grouping of strangers you'll encounter in an airport terminal or flight. These average Americans stand in stark contrast to the hijackers, and I assume most people come to the movie predisposed to ignore their motives and fail to even attempt to sympathize with them in any way. But from the first shot of the hijackers waiting admist the other passengers, I found myself trying to view the movie from their side.

From what I understand about Islamic extremists, their hatred of America stems from our ultimate depiction of amoral capitalism. And these passengers, as well as ourselves and most Americans, are outstanding examples of amoral capitalists. Our lives have little point other than to accumulate and use possesions, while trying to avoid doing anything overly bad or good. That's a pretty general blanket statement, but it seems true enough, and stands as either a sign or cause (or both) of the general unhappiness and depression most Americans feel.

From that viewpoint, which I already sympathized with somewhat, I found myself looking at the passengers through the terrorists eyes, and subconciously cheered them on. Not in the sense that I wanted them to kill these passengers, but more that I recognized their attempt to do something great for themselves and their people and their God, contrasted against the seemingly sad and pointless lives of their victims. I just didn't feel much sympaty for the passengers, from the businessman on his way to a meeting, to the two old men on their trip to Yosemite. What point did their lives server other than to please themselves through an accumulation of wealth and leisure?

I conciously realized this when the passengers began their attempt to take back the plane, and felt surprised. I got angry with myself and started connecting with the passengers again, and silently cheered them on as they formed their plan to take down the hijackers. In fact, I wished I was there with them as they bum rushed the first guy, beating the living [censored] out of these men who were trying to destroy our country and our lives.

After the movie, as I said, I felt dirty. I felt like I understood to some small degree the hatred that most of the eastern world feels for our country. I also felt patriotism and a love for our country, no matter how [censored] up it is at the moment, but that the movie had placed a burden on me to defend our way of life to the rest of the world. And aside from the obvious "omg we haf teh freedoms!!!11!" that everyone is so ready to declare, I find it hard to justify the amount of excess and wasted "liberty" we as a nation enjoy, and that in some small way we deserve the hatred of the rest of the world.

So, am I wrong in thinking that this movie, and more generally our recent involvment with the middle-east and islamic extremism, should make us question what is wrong with our country and our way of life?

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought the movie was well done, both cinematically and with respect to the focus of the movie. The acting was very believeble and moving, on all accounts.

I felt very dirty after watching the movie though, and I'm probably in a huge minority. Up until the very end, I found myself sympathizing somewhat with the terrorists. Not in the sense that I agreed with their ideals or fanaticism, but simply that these men cared enough about something to give their lives up to something greater than themselves, and there is something great and noble in that.

As Dominic said, the cast of characters is unremarkable, and reminds us of any random grouping of strangers you'll encounter in an airport terminal or flight. These average Americans stand in stark contrast to the hijackers, and I assume most people come to the movie predisposed to ignore their motives and fail to even attempt to sympathize with them in any way. But from the first shot of the hijackers waiting admist the other passengers, I found myself trying to view the movie from their side.

From what I understand about Islamic extremists, their hatred of America stems from our ultimate depiction of amoral capitalism. And these passengers, as well as ourselves and most Americans, are outstanding examples of amoral capitalists. Our lives have little point other than to accumulate and use possesions, while trying to avoid doing anything overly bad or good. That's a pretty general blanket statement, but it seems true enough, and stands as either a sign or cause (or both) of the general unhappiness and depression most Americans feel.

From that viewpoint, which I already sympathized with somewhat, I found myself looking at the passengers through the terrorists eyes, and subconciously cheered them on. Not in the sense that I wanted them to kill these passengers, but more that I recognized their attempt to do something great for themselves and their people and their God, contrasted against the seemingly sad and pointless lives of their victims. I just didn't feel much sympaty for the passengers, from the businessman on his way to a meeting, to the two old men on their trip to Yosemite. What point did their lives server other than to please themselves through an accumulation of wealth and leisure?

I conciously realized this when the passengers began their attempt to take back the plane, and felt surprised. I got angry with myself and started connecting with the passengers again, and silently cheered them on as they formed their plan to take down the hijackers. In fact, I wished I was there with them as they bum rushed the first guy, beating the living [censored] out of these men who were trying to destroy our country and our lives.

After the movie, as I said, I felt dirty. I felt like I understood to some small degree the hatred that most of the eastern world feels for our country. I also felt patriotism and a love for our country, no matter how [censored] up it is at the moment, but that the movie had placed a burden on me to defend our way of life to the rest of the world. And aside from the obvious "omg we haf teh freedoms!!!11!" that everyone is so ready to declare, I find it hard to justify the amount of excess and wasted "liberty" we as a nation enjoy, and that in some small way we deserve the hatred of the rest of the world.

So, am I wrong in thinking that this movie, and more generally our recent involvment with the middle-east and islamic extremism, should make us question what is wrong with our country and our way of life?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this movie made you think and feel in a profound way, and I see nothing wrong with that result. It's what all great art aspires to do.

[theBruiser500]

"Greengrass's screemplay is sparse and full of language and conversations that wouldn't be out of place on a city bus or your own workplace. In other words, it's not showy, it's not theatrical, and it is very un-melodramatic."

It irked me how Greengrass did this, he took this to the extreme to show it was a normal humdrum flight that anyone of us could be getting on. What was the deal with the pilot saying "there is going to be a saftey video playing now, it's very important give it your full attention. even if you have seen it before please listen carefully." No pilot does that.

This movie was good but not great. The premise is that 9/11 was a tragedy. And while it was a tragedy it was just a few thousand people dying. Yes, JUST a few thousand people dying, compare that to what other countries go through. Compare it to what makes terrorists in the first place, our anti arab policies like "The dictatorial Iraqi government, which has blamed nearly every civilian funeral since 1991 on sanctions, claims there have been more than 600,000 deaths of under-5-year-olds these past 11 years (4,500 per month) and 1.5 million deaths overall."

[BarronVangorToth]

[ QUOTE ]
And while it was a tragedy it was just a few thousand people dying. Yes, JUST a few thousand people dying, compare that to what other countries go through. Compare it to what makes terrorists in the first place, our anti arab policies like "The dictatorial Iraqi government, which has blamed nearly every civilian funeral since 1991 on sanctions, claims there have been more than 600,000 deaths of under-5-year-olds these past 11 years (4,500 per month) and 1.5 million deaths overall."

[/ QUOTE ]


This is the way the thread ends
This is the way the thread ends
This is the way the thread ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
"Greengrass's screemplay is sparse and full of language and conversations that wouldn't be out of place on a city bus or your own workplace. In other words, it's not showy, it's not theatrical, and it is very un-melodramatic."

It irked me how Greengrass did this, he took this to the extreme to show it was a normal humdrum flight that anyone of us could be getting on. What was the deal with the pilot saying "there is going to be a saftey video playing now, it's very important give it your full attention. even if you have seen it before please listen carefully." No pilot does that.

This movie was good but not great. The premise is that 9/11 was a tragedy. And while it was a tragedy it was just a few thousand people dying. Yes, JUST a few thousand people dying, compare that to what other countries go through. Compare it to what makes terrorists in the first place, our anti arab policies like "The dictatorial Iraqi government, which has blamed nearly every civilian funeral since 1991 on sanctions, claims there have been more than 600,000 deaths of under-5-year-olds these past 11 years (4,500 per month) and 1.5 million deaths overall."

[/ QUOTE ]

first of all, I've heard a pilot say a variation on those words many times.

Second, you're saying because only a few thousand people died on 911 it is unworthy of a film? I know you're not stupid enough to suggest that...perhaps you'd like to try again to get your point across?

[LearnedfromTV]

A few somewhat brief thoughts. I may write more later after I've digested others' comments better.

1. The personalities of the terrorists, clearly a dangerous topic, was handled well, in that there was variety in the emotions they brought to the event. I'm thinking specifically of the contrast between the pilot and the others. It made sense that one of them would express his mix of fear and faith through reluctance to act, while the others expressed theirs with nervous energy.

2. A "quality of acting" issue: I was disappointed with the reactions among the air traffic controllers when the first plane hit. It may simply be impossible to fake the shock people actually felt at the time, but it felt too much like actors acting to me, which wasn't the case in other key scenes, particularly those that took place on the plane.

3. I liked the documentary approach, because it muted a lot of the potentially explosive ideas in a way that gave each of the elements of the story its due without being melodramatic. The terrorist's faith, the common lives of the people on the plane and their attempted heroism, the efforts and frustration of the air traffic controllers - all of these things were presented subtly, which is as it should have been because it allowed the horror of the event to build without being impeded by too much static.

4. I didn't like the one slightly preachy element - the portrayal of high-level government as bumbling in obvious contrast to the air traffic controllers and the lower-level military commanders. We all hate inefficient bureaucracy, but the slowness to act portrayed all happened within a very short real life time frame. It seemed out of place, given the documentary form of the movie, to sell government blame so hard, especially when the decision to attack potentially hijacked planes was, to say the least, complicated. Whether assigning blame to the government is justified or not is not the point - making the movie into that kind of statement, even very mildly, cheapened it a little for me.

5. I liked that they didn't try to do too much, focusing directly on the flight and controllers, rather than trying to include footage from the ground or (other than in the background) news coverage.

6. A small aesthetic touch, I liked that the date synonymous with the event was never mentioned until the final screen.

Overall, a balanced, thought-provoking portrayal of a very difficult subject.