United 93

Whether you say "it's too soon" or "I know how this ends," "United 93" is a gripping movie to watch. Certainly not a feel-good movie, but it is done extraordinarily well. In a way, this had the same effect on me as "Passion of the Christ" did. You're horrified by what you see yet you can't look away. At the same time, while it may be one of the few movies that has a true impact on you, you don't want to see it again.

"United 93" avoids nearly all political points of view of September 11 and instead simply plays out the events of the day. While the focus is primarily on the flight that crashes in a field in Pennsylvania, there are moments in the first two thirds of the story that take us to various flight tracking centers on the East Coast as flight controllers attempt to determine what exactly is going on in the skies above them. There is definite frustration on the civilian air authority side as they struggle to communicate with the military. Meanwhile, the military lacks communication with everyone.

The final third of the story sticks with Flight 93 as the passengers watch terrorists take over the flight, learn of the World Trade Center, and then determine that they are the next to go down. Not willing to accept their fate, a number of the passengers plan a takeover of their own. While we know what happens in the end, you can only sit there and watch it unfold, hoping somehow the ending has changed.

There are no big name stars here, with some of the actors being people who actually played a role in the original event. If nothing else, this makes it feel all the more real. "United 93" is the must-see don't-want-to-see movie of the year. I give it an A.

"United 93" is rated R with a running time of 111 minutes.