United 93

[Pirate]

Title: United 93

Street Date: 9/5/06

MSRP: $29.98

Features:
• 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• DVS Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks
• Audio commentary with the director Paul Greengrass
• United 93 - The Families and the Film documentary

[raptors661]

this was one of the best movies i have seen this year, so this is a definate buy

[ganthc]

I will see this and most likely buy it. I didn't see it in theaters, though I was planning on it at one point.

[Pirate]

Limited Edition art:

[Brikar99]

I wanted to see this, but it came out at a bad time. I hope it's really as good as people say.

[ganthc]

I like the artwork for both sets. They did a great job with them.

[manicsounds]

I got the LE in the mail yesterday (Sept 11th) and watched it last night.
Amazing and intense film everyone..... it left me speechless.

I lucked out getting the Limited Edition from amazon before it went out of print. good luck snagging one up.

[raptors661]

Best Buy has the Full Screen single disc editon for the same price as the LE... i found that hilarious and odd.
does anyone think that this is the wrong movie to be selling these more expensive LE's?

[MrE26]

got this at the weekend, & i think it's a brilliantly made & hugely powerful film. I was really impressed in particular with how the terrorists were handled. They came across not as monsters but as people. Scared, fanatical & completely insane, but people nonetheless. The fact that once the plane takes off, we never get to see the outside of it again really subversively adds to the claustrophobic feeling. The final moments are perfectly handled as well, and after the end just sat there in silence thinking about what i'd just seen. It's an exceptional, hugely moving film. It's extremely hard to watch, but i think everyone should see it at least once.

[tomdkat]

My rental copy shipped from Netflix yesterday.

Peace...

[supercutz]

Man, this was a powerful film. I do not EVER want to see it again though. It's too depressing.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by supercutz

Man, this was a powerful film. I do not EVER want to see it again though. It's too depressing.

I agree. I do not understand why anyone would want to own this. When would you honestly want to sit down and watch this film again? Greengrass made a powerful movie but it is completely depressing. It's a great film that honors those aboard United 93, but I could never watch it again.

[GaLvAtRoN187]

Originally Posted by MrMike

I agree. I do not understand why anyone would want to own this. When would you honestly want to sit down and watch this film again? Greengrass made a powerful movie but it is completely depressing. It's a great film that honors those aboard United 93, but I could never watch it again.

It will probally be something I watch once a year, on sep. 11th

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by GaLvAtRoN187

It will probally be something I watch once a year, on sep. 11th

And you posted that at 9:11 AM.

[Shawn Watson]

A bold and powerful movie. But not entertainment of any kind. One viewing is enough.

[Pirate]

I really didn’t want to watch this movie, but I decided to forgo my reservations tonight. I honestly do not remember the last time I was this destroyed by a film. It absolutely devastated me. I would make some comment about wanting it on HD-DVD, but I’m not sure I could watch it again.

If you haven’t seen it, make the effort to. It’s quite an achievement.

[manicsounds]

The documentary on the disc with all the families and filmmakers was one of the best and most original 'making-of's I have ever seen. You must watch that after the movie. I haven't gotten to the second disc documentary or the commentary yet, but I'll tell you, its totally worth watching.

[tomdkat]

Wow, I'm sort of surprised by some of the reactions and responses posted above. I do have United 93 at home but haven't watched it yet. We'll see how it impacts me.

Peace...

[Titleist]

I just saw this, someone bought it for me to watch tonight, I feel like waxing philosophic is over the top, so I won't, but I echo the statements of others, as the credits rolled I honestly excused myself to go outside, and promptly racked with tears.

The shift from myself thinking "what would I do, who would I call in my last moments, what would I say" gave way to this shocking and blinding sense of rage as they stormed the cockpit and killed the hijackers. I don't mean like angry, like I was shaking with rage. The last minutes in the cockpit had me just destroyed.

Is this movie worth seeing again? I don't know. I haven't felt this way since Saving Private Ryan, or Lorenzo's Oil, or Requiem For A Dream, I just felt shocked. I didn't want to talk about it at all. This is an amazing film, and like those other films I do re-watch them, and will re-watch this maybe 5 to 10 years from now. But this film, without touching on the politics, or the who's and why's of what america did to bring 9/11 on itself, really captured what people are like under pressure when they're faced with the unthinkable.

This movie will take a while to truely sink in as a person.

[esc]

I saw this film the day it came out on video and I must say that some day, as soon as Universal gets off their butts, I will be the proud owner of it on HDDVD.

I am Canadian and really hate pro-Americana propaganda with a 'woo lets go, we can beat 'em cause we're Amerians!' or 'If you don't watch this, the terrorists win' attitude. I was fully prepared to hate this film because to a certain degree, that is what I was expecting.

This film was expertly directed and had none of this.

I felt that it was quite slow to get started ... typical of any day I guess, but once it hit the half way mark, a steadily relentless pace and tone was set that did not let up in its acceleration until the last second.

I really liked that it could have been any day, any flight, any group of people that this happened to. The events on the flight did not have to be set on September 11, 2001 for the film to work. The people did not fight back because they were Americans, the terrorists were not faceless, Godless things, striking out at The Great Satan for no reason, it was just the right thing to do for these people in this moment. Even the now semi-famous line 'lets roll' as heard over a phone by a family member of one of the passengers that led the charge is not given special treatment. Its just thown away, un-embelished, and lost in a flurry of humanity and people's last phone calls. It could have been deliverd in the film as a battle-cry before the charge up the aisle, but its just another couple of words someone said in their last moments.

I think Greengrass should get an oscar nomination for directing. (extremely doubtful though seeing as it was released earlier in the year.) The performances he got out of the cast, plus his choice not to take us outside of the airplane once it took off was brilliant (something I did not realize until someone mentioned it earlier in this thread).

As far as picture and sound quality and design go, the disc is top notch. Thats about all I have to say. Just see it.

A review in Rolling Stone that I read sometime early in the year pretty much sums it up. "The image of a sea of arms reaching into the cockpit defines a hero and represents the best of all of us"

[Titleist]

I got the one disc, but I really want the LE for the documentary, is it worth it?

And any recommendations where to get the LE version from?

[raptors661]

Originally Posted by Titleist

I got the one disc, but I really want the LE for the documentary, is it worth it?

And any recommendations where to get the LE version from?

i thought the doc was worth it. its about the civilian and military side of the air traffic control stations. it runs just under an hour, and its better than most of the fluff pieces that are on other LE's.
i dont think my best buy has any more in stock, but i noticed they are selling the 1 disc foolscreen for the price of the LE. i would try online sites or maybe ebay, but i bet they are selling for $40 there.

[esc]

Originally Posted by Titleist

I got the one disc, but I really want the LE for the documentary, is it worth it?

And any recommendations where to get the LE version from?

looks like amazon.com has it for over $40

Best Buy may still have it in stock. It looks to be in their online store at least.

I have heard that the documentry is quite good and gives alot of the family member's insights into the charcters that we see on the plane.

Greengrass would not make the film without the support of the family members, so I expect that the documentary will be quite honest.

[tomdkat]

Well, I watched this for the first time over the weekend. The ending sequence was the absolute most intense dramatization I have ever seen in any movie I've watched in my entire life.

I watched the movie again with my mom and her roommate later that afternoon and my emotional response at the end was even stronger than the first viewing. My mom cried at the end while the people were making their way into the cockpit.

I will definitely purchase this DVD and feel this is one movie everyone should own. The way everything was presented is absolutely perfect and tasteful and I was surprised to learn many of those working the ground that day played themselves in the movie.

I will show this movie to as absolutely many people I'm able to. I'm completely blown away.

Peace...

[Titleist]

Well said Tom, I think this movie is everything to everyone. I mean in that if you think the military did a bad job then it confirms those feelings, if you think they were in as much shock as we were then it confirms those feelings, the movie is neutral and doesn't take sides, it tries to tell the facts as much as we know.

Frankly I thought the creepiest moments were the ones when the X's dissapeared off the radar, watching the characters struggle with what that meant while we clearly knew the truth was hard to bear.

The last 30 seconds, the hands reaching into the cockpit, was so moving that I get goosebumps just writing about it.

I think the only thing that hurts this story is how much we don't know, we don't know how far they got or exactly what happened, so it leaves room for doubt. But regardless of all the details it's still an amazing account of a glimmer of hope in one of the darkest days of our lifetimes.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Titleist

Frankly I thought the creepiest moments were the ones when the X's dissapeared off the radar, watching the characters struggle with what that meant while we clearly knew the truth was hard to bear.

Yeah, that was a trip. I was amazed by the scenes at the military facility. The scrambling of unarmed jets, the jets that scrambled heading East instead of North, the lack of authorization for the jets to fly into the airspace over New York (I believe), and worst of all, the extremely late and inaccurate information they were getting. They did what they could with what they had.

I think the only thing that hurts this story is how much we don't know, we don't know how far they got or exactly what happened, so it leaves room for doubt. But regardless of all the details it's still an amazing account of a glimmer of hope in one of the darkest days of our lifetimes.

Yep, exactly. It's one thing to imagine what might have happened on that plane and quite another to actually see one version of what might have happened. Very intense and I know I never pictured the terrorists fighting back when the passengers took up arms. My mom also noticed the terrorist pilot buckling his seat belt when the cockpit was being battered. She wondered why he would do that, if they were going to die anyway and I told her so that the passengers wouldn't be able to easily get him out of the cockpit.

Not only did the terrorists go as far as they could with their mission, they fought hard to make sure they were as "successful" as possible. Something that never entered my imagination.

The thing I thought was interesting was the part when both the passengers and the terrorists were praying at the same time. The passengers (some at least) were saying the "Our Father" prayer while the terrorists said their own.

Peace...

[Titleist]

I won't lie, I had this seething rage when they rushed the cockpit, like I can imagine most american's would feel if they were in that position with the knowledge we now have. I could imagine myself doing horrible things to those hijackers given the chance. And yet at the same time they weren't painted as these monsters, evil yes, but believers in what they were doing for what they felt was the right reason.

Lets not beat around the bush, these people were evil. But at least they humanized them so that they weren't cookie cutter villiains, because frankly real people aren't black or white in their nature.

The movie really conveys the sense that these people were fanatical but also extremely methodical in the mission they were carrying out.

I also appreciate how this movie didn't glamorize anything, which is the complaint I had against WTC, which had slow motion shots and special effects out the ass. This was dirty, intense, and real. And frankly seeing that footage on CNN of the second plane striking the trade center, and the reactions of the people in that military center were real, because we all knew where we were when it happened. I think this is easily one of the best movies of the year because it doesn't pander to the audience, it has no political agenda, it just is a straight facts story of what most likely happened based on what we know and can assume.

I also was impressed that the "let's roll" line wasn't glamorized, it was in the background, it was subtle, and not overplayed like G.W has made it out to be. It didn't become the rallying point like the presidency made it out to be, it was one guy's reaction, not some heroic statement.

Lastly, I appreciated how there were no major actors in this. I think I remembered one guy from Brisco County, Jr.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Titleist

The movie really conveys the sense that these people were fanatical but also extremely methodical in the mission they were carrying out.

I didn't get "extremely methodical" but organized. The scenes in the airport, going through security demonstrated some of this. I didn't get "extremely methodical" since it appeared they were "late" with their hijack, which might have just been part of the dramatization. We also can't forget, they appeared to be tense and 'on edge', if not flat out nervous. They weren't all cool, calm, and collected, like the European "super villains" we've seen in various Hollywood movies. I too consider their apprehension to be part of their "humanization" and I remember the "leader" calling his loved ones to say his last words in the airport lobby, just like the passengers did after the whole thing went to hell.

I also appreciate how this movie didn't glamorize anything, which is the complaint I had against WTC, which had slow motion shots and special effects out the ass. This was dirty, intense, and real. And frankly seeing that footage on CNN of the second plane striking the trade center, and the reactions of the people in that military center were real, because we all knew where we were when it happened. I think this is easily one of the best movies of the year because it doesn't pander to the audience, it has no political agenda, it just is a straight facts story of what most likely happened based on what we know and can assume.

Yep, I agree. I didn't see WTC but I agree with the lack of glamorization. I think that added to the intensity of the movie for me.

Lastly, I appreciated how there were no major actors in this. I think I remembered one guy from Brisco County, Jr.

Agreed. Having easily recognizable faces would have detracted from the story and the movie and I think the cast was excellent, both the passengers and the terrorists. That young terrorist had some spunk.

Peace...

[Crockett's Vice]

I got the 2 disc LE at Bestbuy yesterday. It was only one of two left, and it cost me 24.99 plus tax, but I have to say it was worth the money I spent on it. This is an extremely good movie. I missed out on seeing it in the theaters, and after hearing how good it was I decided to check it out. As already posted, there was no glamorizing in this film, and no really well known actors. The only one I recognized was Gregg Henry. The final moments left me speechless. This is an important movie, and I'm going to reccommend it to everyone that I know who hasn't seen it.