Review: I don't think a 9/11 movie will ever be made that is better than this one by Paul Greengrass. Even though everyone already knows the ending, it still slowly and expertly builds the tension until the final moment.
The events that took place inside United 93 actually only take up about a third of the story as the rest of the film follows the FAA officials, air-traffic controllers and the military struggling to track the unresponsive hijacked planes and react to their unexpected crashes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The standout is Ben Sliney, playing himself, as the FAA National Operation Manager who started his first day in the new postion on 9/11.
Quotes:
"All right, sir, we've got a small system in the Southwest. Nothing too big. Shouldn't be a big problem. Some low ceilings over San Francisco, nothing major. That system finally moved off to the East and we've got clear skies."
"Good. It'll be a good day on the East Coast."
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Before we get started... Well, that was a possible hijack, American..."
"What?"
"Yeah."
"Hijack? Anybody remember..."
"Haven't seen that in years."
"Anybody remember when was the last time we had a hijack?"
"Yeah, I know. It's been quite a while."
"'91, '92?"
"I can't even remember precisely. No, no, It's Boston to LAX, American 11. They're on it and they're gonna keep me informed. I'll brief you."
"I don't know. I'll tell you what, that is not a small plane. No way."
"A Cessna would have bounced off that. Look at the size of that hole!"
"I've got a bad feeling about this. I'll tell you right now."
"All right, hold on. Hold on. I got a primary on the target."
"Where?"
"He's rapidly descending. Can you see that right right there? He's coming down quick, yeah. Can you see that?"
"Well, who is it?"
"I don't know."
"You see him out the window?"
"Is he out there?"
"Descending rapidly."
"No, there he is. There he is."
"Where?"
"Right there, over the Verrazano Bridge."
"Oh, yeah. Look how fast he's going."
"He's going right up the Hudson River Center. Oh, my God!"
"AHH! Jesus!! Shit!!"
"What?!! How does he do that?!"
"Did you see that? Did you see that, sir?"
"Cleveland just called. There's a United 93, the controller heard screams coming from the cockpit."
"Jesus!"
"Sounds like American 11. This is starting to look like a pattern."
"Hey, this is a suicide mission. We have to do something. They are not gonna land this plane. They are not gonna take us back to the airport. I don't think there's any other option we have."
"If we're gonna die, we're gonna die. They're flying us into a building. We're gonna die."
"We should not interfere with them."
"There's a lot of us but we got to do something. You see how low we are?"
5 out of 5 Stars
