Flight 93 - Todesflug am 11. September

I guess I don't know what I was expecting, but this movie went above and beyond what I thought it was going to be. I am not very good when it comes to actually judging how good or bad a movie is, but I gave this movie a 9 because it absolutely broke my heart. On Sept. 11 2001, I was in high school watching everything happen on TV and I guess I didn't cry then or at all because I was so shocked and didn't understand. This movie made me realize how terrible this event really was, and for the first time, I shed tears. This movie was a good movie to give you an idea of what it was really like for those people and what their families went through and what they knew. I am truly sorry that people feel that they need to do this and this movie has made me feel awful, but it did a very good job of making you feel the way you should feel when you think about these types of things.

On September, 11th 2001, four domestic flights are hijacked by terrorist in United States of America. After the collision of three against selected targets, the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 fight against four terrorists to take back the control of the airplane.

On the day that the world changed, about forty two passengers and crew of United Flight 93 become aware that the four terrorists that hijacked their plane are in a suicidal mission, after the collisions of three other airplanes. Through the testimony of their phone calls, this movie reconstitutes and dramatizes the moments of despair of some of them. The story is very sad and touching, since they are common people like you and me in a flight. It is impossible not projecting ourselves in the tragic situation that might have happened to either of us and feel a great sympathy for the victims. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Vôo 93 – O Fime" ("Flight 93 – The Movie")

I believe this film accomplished what it set out to do. No big stars, no big special effects, it focused just on the ordinary people that got caught up in this event. The film "United 93" is quite good but that is told in close to real time and includes several air traffic controllers where as this movie mainly comes from the communications the people on board had with people on the ground.

I have read some reviews that were based on the politics of the situation, I won't comment on those. If you read the reviews that talk to the actual movie I think you will get a better idea of the actual merits of the film itself.

The no name cast did quite well. As I said the focus is on the communications between people on the ground and those in the air who could see they were going to die. I think it's a movie that will be rated higher as we move away from the actual events. As far as the reviews go that say it's not realistic because everyone involved has blonde hair and or has a baby is on par with the reviewers who knocked the Lord of the Rings because so many of the main characters had blue eyes.

The made-for-TV "Flight 93" was on A&E last night, so I watched it having recently been pleasantly impressed by the (similar/same) story of "United 93", which I rented on DVD just a few weeks ago.

Perhaps my opinion of "Flight" would be different if I had not seen "United" first, but I just didn't feel the power, emotion and anger that I'd felt while watching "United". "Flight" felt detached, poorly-acted and strangely 'calm', whereas "United" portrayed well the sense of in-credulousness of the situation as it unfolded and brought back the sick feeling we all had that day when it was realized what was actually going on. The air traffic controllers/airline people on the ground in "Flight" however seemed content to sit there serenely and simply wait for another opportunity to say, "There goes another one". And when one of the hijacked passengers uses his cell phone to give a sad farewell to his wife, she hangs up without even saying so much as "I love you".

Perhaps though my main problem with "Flight" is that it merely recreates what (is believed) to have happened, while "United" does the same while reminding us that procedures, organization & interaction on the ground were inexcusably poor, and that there are valuable lessons to be learned from this tragedy. By glossing over that aspect of the fateful day, "Flight 93" falls flat.

So if you've seen "United 93" already, don't waste your time with "Flight 93" - and if you haven't seen either but are interested in the story, make it "United".

This was a decent film that might actually have portrayed the events on United Flight 93 on September 11. I think that it is comparable to United 93, the other film about the same subject, and I liked both movies about the same. This film captured the obvious fear the passengers felt on that day, and goes into more detail with the phone calls they made to their loved ones telling them what was happening. The suspense in the movie was kept high despite the fact that you knew what was going to happen. The cockpit-charging scene was the highlight of the film, in my opinion. You learn a little bit more about some of the passengers than in the other movie. If you have an interest in 9/11 and would like to see a movie about the heroes on that day, this movie might be for you.

**1/2 out of ****