HDTV Forum

DVD - "United 93"

Plot - UNITED 93 recreates the doomed trip in actual time, from takeoff to hijacking to the realization by those onboard that their plane was part of a coordinated attack unfolding on the ground beneath them. The film attempts to understand the abject fear and courageous decisions of those who over the course of just 90 minutes, transformed from a random assembly of disconnected strangers into bonded allies who confronted an unthinkable situation.

Widescreen Review said of the PQ ... "DVD picture is hampered by its unimpressive black levels and over-blown whites, which can give faces a pasty hue. Colors are slightly undersaturated." This is exactly the impression that I had as I watched this DVD.

Apart from the technical shortcomings this is an extraordinary film. The chaos and confusion of this film really pulled me in from the early stages ... it really involved me emotionally. The use of some of the actual individuals involved in this tragic day also helped with the films realism. They also used real air traffic controllers, pilots and stewardesses. The avoidance of the usual Hollywood cliches of back stories was another factor in making this film so commendable. Focusing only on the events as they actually happened made this film so very believeable and steadily increased the tension. And the film pulls no punches ... it never tries to hide any of the breakdowns in communications between the Control Centre, the FAA and the military.

When I first heard of this film I thought here were go again ... Hollywood exploiting a tragic event. Fortunately, I think everything was done to ensure that this did not happen. The fact that the families were brought into the making of this film really assured this.

I recommend this film highly with no reservations.

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Thanks for taking the time to post this movie!

I second your complete review!

Fair warning: the camera direction is of the documentary variety meaning it is bumping around for the most of the film. I appreciate the artistic effect that is desired and how well it may play on our old TV system but in todays world of big screens, HDTV and the aspect ratio used, 2.35, we all kinda got sea sick in this house. This was not a great big screen experience.

The absence of Hollywood made this a real treat and I would love to see more like it especially when covering real stories.

it never tries to hide any of the breakdowns in communications between the Control Centre, the FAA and the military.

What really hit me a couple of days afterwards is historically there are so many parallels to Pearl Harbor from what those in the know thought could happen in the future to the actual event and our being unprepared for it.

Richard wrote:
Fair warning: the camera direction is of the documentary variety meaning it is bumping around for the most of the film. I appreciate the artistic effect that is desired and how well it may play on our old TV system but in todays world of big screens, HDTV and the aspect ratio used, 2.35, we all kinda got sea sick in this house. This was not a great big screen experience.

For me the handhelp, bumpy camera helped make the film seem like this was real ... but I understand where you are coming from with the big screen. I hope to increase my screen size to 52" sometime in the next few months!

You certainly are right about the parallels to Pearl Harbour, but the lack of communications did force individuals to make decisions on their own ... and in some cases the right decisions were made ... all planes were grounded regardless of the billions lost ... this was a national emergency and it was the right thing to do.

When they were trying to get Presidential approval to shoot down the hijacked planes I remembered a scene in "Fahrenheit 9/11" in which President George Bush sat immobile in a children's classroom in Florida for several minutes after being informed of the attack on the WTC. What was he waiting for??? I never understood that.

And one final point ... isn't amazing how a group of complete strangers can come together and work for a common goal in a crisis. The passengers know that no one could help them ... they were on their own. And they performed marvelously. Apparently investigators believe they were only seconds away from taking control of the aircraft.

When they were trying to get Presidential approval to shoot down the hijacked planes I remembered a scene in "Fahrenheit 9/11" in which President George Bush sat immobile in a children's classroom in Florida for several minutes after being informed of the attack on the WTC.

I have never seen any documentation that ties the timing of those two events together. If I were the president and all that just happened I would have reacted the same unless, UNLESS there was a decision that I had to make at that moment. What's five minutes of grace when the rest of the country is doing their job? There was nothing he could personally do about it... On top of that per this movie he was never put in the immediate position of making such a decision since they never had any planes in the area to take them down.

isn't amazing how a group of complete strangers can come together and work for a common goal in a crisis.

Yes it is but it was far easier to take the offensive when you finally understood that you were going to die no matter what. Only this flight realized the full consequences of what was happening while the rest hoped they would survive the hijacking.

I remain shocked and amazed that the FAA kept our national defense grounded awaiting permission to take off and applaud the commander for saying to hell with it, get them off the ground now! I am shocked and amazed that our mighty military could only scramble 2, and only 2, armed jets and they could not even arrive on time due to the delay and the other two that might have made it were unarmed.

Like Pearl, regardless of the errors, I find it difficult to assign blame and applaud those who took responsibility so some decisions could be made. It is nearly impossible to be prepared for the unexpected and difficult to believe evidence that contradicts the world as you know it. At Pearl they had just installed a radar system and that morning it showed the Japanese coming but the image was so huge and there were no scheduled US sorties of that size that it was written off as a technical error! Imagine what the headlines would have been if we had been able to scramble our planes with the fleet awaiting their arrival!