United 93

United 93 is an American historical thriller film written and directed by Paul Greengrass, following the true story of the rebellion on United 93 during the September 11th attacks.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) Excellent directing by Paul Greengrass who went to great lengths to make this movie what it is, making it one of the most harrowing thriller films of all time and taking plenty of time to examine other events that were going on during the day, like the military trying to decide whether or not to engage the aircraft and people trying to figure out what's going on. He also makes the scenes on United 93 escalate constantly as the film goes on, making this a highly harrowing and emotional movie.
 * 2) All the actors in the movie are then-unknown people, making them legitimate strangers to both each other and the audience and making it feel like they're actually on the plane.
 * 3) Though all the actors were new at the time, they all give pretty incredible performances.
 * 4) Paul Greengrass went to insane lengths not only to make this movie, but also to make it realistic and sympathetic to the victims, he wrote down events as they happened beat for beat and got more personal information from the families of the victims to make them as accurate and real as possible.
 * 5) This movie has a great purpose, there's no perfunctory pro-america message in it and no sugarcoating the facts or dramatizing them, they want to tell the full truth and nothing but the truth.
 * 6) Though you might think such a large cast has no room for making all of them feel real, this movie surprises you by playing out in real time and giving all of them enough screentime to not only be sympathetic, but also real. Even the terrorists feel like real people, even though the movie clearly condemns their actions completely.
 * 7) The movie tastefully ends right before the plane crashes and gives some cards explaining what happened minutes afterwards and a pleasant tribute dedicated to the victims of 9/11, giving a ending that, while still tragic, is kind enough to not belittle the sacrifices many people made during that day, especially the United 93 passengers.

Trivia

 * 1) Much of the movie's initial box office intake was donated to the creation of a United 93 memorial.