Flug 93

Auch wenn das Drama Flug 93 nicht auf wahren Begebenheiten basieren würde, überschreitet es gewisse Grenzen des Mediums "Film". Es gehört zu den wichtigsten medialen Werken, die am Anfang des neuen Jahrhunderts entstanden sind. (17.09.2006)

The unreservedly enthusiastic foreign responses did not lie. In the beginning, Greengrass brilliantly gives the viewer a glimpse into the 9/11 shock and awe of what's going on in the flight centers (I guarantee that although you've seen the second plane crash into one of the Twin Towers at least a hundred times, Greengrass's rendition of the visually haunting footage will give you the chills again). The last 40 minutes, starting with the hijacking of the plane, is an incredible emotional ride, at the end of which, in the scene where the passengers break into the cockpit, I had a heart rate of about 220 and was picking my dropped jaw up off the floor; this despite knowing how it all turns out. Brilliant! And if you're worried about the pathos, with shots full of stars and blue-red stripes, you fear is unwarranted, Greengrass is just too good for that. PS: Given the incredible courage shown by some of the passengers, which the film captures so powerfully, I believe their survivors could not have asked for a better cinematic epitaph. (04.06.2006)

During the film I was convinced of a final four-star rating (the confusion in the control centre was wonderfully directed, but wasn’t that much fun), but the last half hour is something so incredibly and brilliantly impressive that I’m giving it five stars without any remorse. I’ve never seen a stronger “historical” film. 93% (27.12.2008)

There were two ways this could have been filmed. Either as a hyper-pathetic monstrosity perceiving every Arab as a terrorist and every American as a patriot willing to die for his country... or the way in which it was filmed. Paul Greengrass doesn't dwell on any motives that led the terrorists to act, but rather portrays them only as people who are pursuing their goal with confidence, and instead views the passengers as a group of people who, in an extreme situation, were able to perform a single radically desperate act of defiance. It all happens in real-time, which is then transferred from the control room to the plane and captures the immediate action through a handheld camera, all without getting involved in creating psychology, relationships, or quick links. This makes the entire film feel much more believable and raw, and the final 10 minutes will forever go down in film history! For those who can sympathize with the plight of ordinary people, this film is the ultimate celebration of civilian heroism. Those looking for theories, politics, and social criticism should wait for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center. (13.06.2006)

Um es kurz und bündig zu sagen: Paul Greengrass und die einzig logische Antwort auf ein kürzlich tabuisiertes Thema - Abstand halten, nicht urteilen, nicht bewerten und möglichst gesicherte Fakten präsentieren. Wenn der Filmemacher stark in Krämpfen steckt und wenn er Waffen wie die Handkamera und ein ziviles Ensemble ohne Stars hervorragend eingesetzt hat, dann kann das Ergebnis nur äußerst eindrucksvoll, abschreckend und eindringlich sein. Das ist genau das, was Flug 93 ist. Er erspart dem Zuschauer keine Kürzungen, er zieht ihn mit allen technischen Mitteln ins Zentrum des Geschehens und präsentiert die Ereignisse mit erschreckender Authentizität und erzählerischer Distanz. Aber die Präsentation selbst ist im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes verzehrend, und die Beschäftigung mit dem Plot, das beharrliche Gefühl der Unkonstruiertheit, das Fehlen klassischer Handlungsschemata, all das schafft den Nährboden für ein starkes, sogar schockierendes Seherlebnis. Am Ende gibt es kein Moralisieren, keine unerschütterliche Gewissheit, dass das Gute vom Bösen abgegrenzt werden kann, dass die Grenze fest ist und dass eine Überschreitung bestraft wird. Am Ende stellt sich heraus, dass sowohl die Opfer als auch die Mörder noch immer nur Menschen sind. Für mich war der ergreifendste Moment des ganzen Films das Gebet kurz vor der unvermeidlichen Katastrophe. An Bord von Greengrass' Flug 93 materialisierte sich in diesem Moment die ganze Skurrilität und Absurdität der heutigen Welt. Der Wert eines solchen Films geht millionenfach über vorgefertigte Botschaften über echte Helden hinaus, denn er bietet dem Zuschauer ein intensives Erlebnis, ohne zu flüstern. Es liegt an Ihnen, wie Sie es bewerten. (28.08.2006)

Greengrass applies the successful recipe from Bloody Sunday here as well (especially his trademark immersion technique, making you one of the passengers) - and again it works out exceedingly well. Almost everything here follows the same pattern and yet it’s so very different. The first 75 minutes are dedicated to reconstructing the chaos surrounding the first plane crashes, and then during the final quarter hour absolutely drains you emotionally onboard United 93. Again, where possible, he uses real characters "as themselves". Once again he revels in unobtrusive yet impressive music, in maximum detail using hand held cameras, and totally apolitically. Impressive, although as a movie it is difficult to evaluate, but the experience is truly powerful. ♫ OST score: 4/5 (24.08.2006)

Absolute experience that destroys viewers' senses. Greengrass's directing style brought to the highest level of tolerance through maximum authenticity and squeezing emotions in hectoliters. The second viewing, moreover, does not diminish the impression, on the contrary, it elevates it to the highest spheres. Those who haven't seen it have no chance of understanding the flood of praise. (29.08.2006)

I finished watching the movie 10 minutes ago... My forehead is still furrowed, my head is still spinning, and my heart won't stop pounding. No movie has really cost me that much in nerves. The atmosphere on the plane and on the ground was perfectly captured beyond measure. Plenty of confusion, emotion, and suspense. I know one thing for sure... this movie is unbeatable! It's like the situation hit me all over again. (25.06.2011)

When I looked at the ratings and comments of my favorite users, they reminded me of the impressions of the attendees of the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, who paid tribute to Stalin. United 93 has a reputation as an outstanding film, and I often come across comments where it is considered as a kind of benchmark against which the (im)perfection of other films is measured. At the very least, you can encounter the claim that it is the absolute peak of Greengrass's work so far, which other pieces from his workshop can only look at from a great distance. I'm afraid that historical events are receiving a five-star treatment here, not their artistic reflection. When footage of the burning Twin Towers appeared on television, it shocked the world and there was talk of the Third World War. The events completely deviated from the known world. The idea that someone would hijack a plane full of passengers and intentionally crash it into a skyscraper seemed insane to everyone. And the situation and feelings of the passengers of the last plane, who already knew their fate, were insane as well. Real life brought a more dramatic situation than the wildest action movie screenwriters could have come up with. Greengrass chose the method of documentary reconstruction, but the traditional characteristics of his work, especially the handheld camera and chaotic editing, reached their limits here. In crucial moments, it descends into a completely incomprehensible mix of bodies, jerky movements, and screams, you learn very little about the individual characters, and the film actually just rides the wave of the well-known events, without being able to properly utilize the immense dramatic potential that is readily available. The underrated Green Zone stands significantly higher in my eyes from a cinematic perspective. The shots from the navigation stations are justified, but not to the extent and with the content that Greengrass delivers to us. It's more like three and a half stars, and this time, contrary to my usual habits, I will lean toward a higher rating only out of reverence for the victims of the tragedy. Overall impression: 70%. (31.10.2013)

Today it’s five years since “it" happened, but right now I feel like I just experienced it again. Just like being there. I don’t think I ever saw a more real-life movie. Greengrass captured the events of 9/11 brilliantly, at the same time erecting a movie memorial to all victims of those attacks. Powell’s music just goes to augment the whole situation and instills a storm of emotions inside you which you might not find pleasant at all. (11.09.2006)

In a way, it is a second Schindler's List. It is equally artistically precise, with thematic weight added. These two aspects together form a unique work that certainly deserves nothing less than full appreciation. Paul Greengrass is able to create incredible authenticity with a smart use of handheld camera, aided by excellently chosen (completely unknown) actors. The tension escalates, the situation intensifies, and the viewer is left astounded in a truly unprecedented way. One of the most suggestive, rawest, and definitely best films of the year, which won't win an Oscar simply because it feels too unlike a movie throughout its entire running time. (22.06.2006)

It took me time to get my bearings, the film seemed more a documentary than the drama about a group of people in a desperate situation I was expecting. However, as sceptical as I was at first, the second half was absolutely riveting, Greengrass plays it big and at the very end I was staring at the screen so flabbergasted that I must have looked pretty ridiculous. Considering the premise the film draws from, the impressive way it presents everything, and how it ultimately overwhelms even Stone's ambitious World Trade Center, I will look past my initial doubts and give it a full rating. (14.10.2012)

United 93 is about as close to the term "objective reconstruction" as you can get with a movie. Which, given the subject matter, says a lot about the creative abilities of superman Greengrass. I'm in a similar mental state to a passenger waiting to die in a falling plane, and I'm personally in a similar state of mind when any landing of even the smoothest flight occurs, so I was able to empathize quite a bit. (13.10.2019)

Das dokumentarische Konzept hat mich in der ersten Hälfte des Films gestört, da es in Langeweile abglitt. Die zweite Hälfte ist logischerweise dramatisch und schafft es, die Emotionen des Publikums bis zum Äußersten auszureizen. Paul Thomas Anderson wird für mich wahrscheinlich immer ein Drei-Sterne-Regisseur sein. Ich wünschte, das würde irgendwann aufbrechen... (25.10.2021)