Just got back from a Saturday afternoon showing of Paul Greengrass' "United 93," and all I can say is WOW. When I had first heard that they were making a movie based on the events of September 11th, I was a little worried that the movie studios would create a movie that exploited everyone who died that day. But as the movie progressed through it's development, I read that all of the family members of people who died on United flight 93 had given their seal of approval to director Paul Greengrass, so I felt a little relieved.

I feel a little overwhelmed in writing this review. Reviews of good movies are always hard to write. Reviews of great movies are damn near impossible to write. This was one great movie. It's so great that I don't even feel like bringing up the itty bitty minor complaints that I had about the movie.

I was really surprised at how much the movie pulled me into the screen. When I usually watch movies, I'm almost always aware that I'm in a theater and am watching something on a huge screen right in front of me. But this movie really grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go until the credits came on screen.

You know a movie truly has you in its grasp when you know how the movie's going to end, yet you find yourself pulling for the heroes to take back the plane and land it safely somewhere. I found myself saying, yeah, you guys are going to take back that plane and you're all going to be home with your loved ones by nightfall. If this had been your average Hollywood movie, this is how it would have ended.

But this isn't your average Hollywood movie. This is a faithful adaptation of a true event of which everyone in the theater knew its conclusion. Yet I'd bet that everyone in that theater was hoping that they'd somehow pull it off.

There are a lot of little things that Paul Greengrass did really well. I liked the scene of everyone saying the Lord's prayer while the terrorists said their own prayer. I thought it was a subtle way to give the movie a little extra dramatic power.

One of the more powerful scenes for me was the scene of the flight attendant closing the airplane door at the airport. You very much get the sense that they were sealing off a tomb. It was very subtle and very powerful.

I also liked that the movie wasn't necessarily about the events aboard the flight, but were also about what was going on in all of the numerous aviation support centers. It really demonstrated how confusing things must have been on that day.

But the greatest thing about this movie is that it intercut the confusion of what was happening on the ground, with the resolve of what was going on in the airplane. I thought it was amazing to watch how these people had very little time to process what was happening, yet somehow were able to pull themselves together with enough time to stop the last plane from hitting its target.

It was a very empowering movie. I really don't know how to describe it, but I really felt a strong reaction at the end when they're trying to overtake the plane. And thankfully it was a strong reaction in a non-political way. Thankfully, this movie left any and all politics out, so all we saw was the human struggles on both the land and air.

These people are heroes. They should be celebrated and revered. I'm not saying that everyone should see this movie, because it's certainly a very hard movie to watch, but this movie really made their sacrifice all the more real to me.

peace and love