Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

UNITED 93 (R)

MOVIE BIASES: I'm nervous, but ready... Let's roll.

MAJOR PLAYERS: Christian Clemenson (TV's "Boston Legal"), David Rasche (The Sentinel), and writer/director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy)

We all remember where we were when we heard about the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I was woken up by a phone call from my mother, fast asleep after staying up all night promoting the release of my first published novel, which was coming out that day. Instead of reveling in the actualization of a lifelong dream, I, like an entire nation, had my butt rooted to a couch all day long, stunned mouth open like a barn
door in a tornado, constantly putting myself in the place of those who died an untimely, unnatural death, trying to make sense of it all. Five years later, "United 93" takes us off the couch and into the theater, trapping us inside the primary events of the day in such an arresting, real time way, it reminds an already edgy, cognizant nation of the human toll of the war with terror - internally and externally.
The day that personally, professionally, and politically changed our lives forever is relived with such accuracy and dispassionate recall, it left my barn door open again.

Everyone knows what went down on September 11, 2001 (if not, just wait a week and the Bush Administration will remind you). What most of us don't know (or at least this writer didn't) was the amount of procedural mayhem of a thoroughly professional yet rarely tested Federal Aviation Administration and Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) not used to an attack of such coordinated sophistication and operational, brutal elegance. As the FAA's command center chief Ben Sliney (playing himself) tries to determine the status of an errant American Flight 11 that disappeared from their radar screens shortly after transmitting terrorist-sounding chatter, the NEADS's military leaders vainly try to establish rules of engagement and a chain of command protocol to deal with the imminent threat. Not until an hour
into the movie do we truly get into the terrorist takeover that we dread is coming of United Flight 93, a Newark to San Francisco flight that's quickly, ruthlessly commandeered by four religious zealot terrorists, and redirected towards a purported target of the U.S. Capitol building. As the hijacked passengers make contact with their loved ones on the ground, sifting through fearful conjecture to
disseminate partial information about the events of the day, they band together to try and take back the plane.

As echoed by nearly every professional and amateur movie critic who has seen the movie, Paul Greengrass is the right man for this delicate, unenviable job. An expert at creating tension, with and without action, Greengrass builds it in believable fashion, from the anxiety of tracking triangular blips on an air traffic control radar
to the routinized, quotidian behaviors of the doomed airline crew and passengers going about their business, save four intense Arab men. Without making overt commentary on our country's bureaucratic red tape then (and probably still now), Greengrass studiously details the dueling jurisdictions of the FAA and NEADS, with the FAA trying to ground all planes while the military trying to scramble fighters to
respond to the terrorist threat ("Listen, we're at war with someone. Until we figure it out, we're shutting down!" barks Sliney). Greengrass exhibits mastery of the absolute chaos of action in the tight spaces of the plane and employs brilliant juxtaposition in the final moments of the passengers reciting the Lord's Prayer with the hijackers praying to Allah. It's a powerful, understated look at the empowerment of religion, and how it can provide or pervert. Respectfully but realistically using the 9/11 footage which has affected a nation, Greengrass absolutely puts you inside the command centers and airline cabins of the primary actors of that tragic day.

Speaking of the actors, there's an amiable mix of unheralded pros and non-actors working alongside each other. The highlight is Ben Sliney playing Ben Sliney, seamless as his likable but take-charge self. Seemingly, the idea is that the real hero in the face of tragedy was the group, how a GROUP of people did everything they could to save lives from the ground as a GROUP of passengers did all they could to save even more lives while in the air. Unlike the "Flight 93" movie on cable this year, not a single person is identified on the plane in "United 93," although those who have followed closely the lives and actions of the people on the plane can familiarize themselves with their representations and personalities.

Is it too soon? Who's to say? Everyone in this country was touched by 9/11 either directly or indirectly. If this same movie were released ten years from now, the anxiety would still be fresh under Greengrass' fine navigation of the challenges of that day (a frustrated NEADS commander, in response to learning his crippled response capability, fumes, "I can't defend the Eastern Seaboard with only four planes!"). As a drama, it works. As an historical recreation, it works. As an
honorable remembrance, it works, too. Whether you feel you're "ready" or not to see this movie is negated by the final, frantic fifteen minutes, which are so frenzied, manic, and desperate, it tears at your tear ducts. This movie is strong, elemental, with such a regard for the human spirit, it haunts as much as it helps. "United 93" is hard, but necessary, to watch.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare UNITED 93 (R) MOVIE BIASES: I'm nervous, but ready... Let's roll. MAJOR PLAYERS: Christian Clemenson (TV's "Boston Legal"), David Rasche (The Sentinel), and writer/director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) We all remember where we were when we heard about the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I was woken up by a phone call from my mother, fast asleep after staying up all night promoting the release of my first published novel, which was coming out that day. Instead of reveling in the actualization of a lifelong dream, I, like an entire nation, had my butt rooted to a couch all day long, stunned mouth open like a barn door in a tornado, constantly putting myself in the place of those who died an untimely, unnatural death, trying to make sense of it all. Five years later, "United 93" takes us off the couch and into the theater, trapping us inside the primary events of the day in such an arresting, real time way, it reminds an already edgy, cognizant nation of the human toll of the war with terror - internally and externally. The day that personally, professionally, and politically changed our lives forever is relived with such accuracy and dispassionate recall, it left my barn door open again. Everyone knows what went down on September 11, 2001 (if not, just wait a week and the Bush Administration will remind you). What most of us don't know (or at least this writer didn't) was the amount of procedural mayhem of a thoroughly professional yet rarely tested Federal Aviation Administration and Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) not used to an attack of such coordinated sophistication and operational, brutal elegance. As the FAA's command center chief Ben Sliney (playing himself) tries to determine the status of an errant American Flight 11 that disappeared from their radar screens shortly after transmitting terrorist-sounding chatter, the NEADS's military leaders vainly try to establish rules of engagement and a chain of command protocol to deal with the imminent threat. Not until an hour into the movie do we truly get into the terrorist takeover that we dread is coming of United Flight 93, a Newark to San Francisco flight that's quickly, ruthlessly commandeered by four religious zealot terrorists, and redirected towards a purported target of the U.S. Capitol building. As the hijacked passengers make contact with their loved ones on the ground, sifting through fearful conjecture to disseminate partial information about the events of the day, they band together to try and take back the plane. As echoed by nearly every professional and amateur movie critic who has seen the movie, Paul Greengrass is the right man for this delicate, unenviable job. An expert at creating tension, with and without action, Greengrass builds it in believable fashion, from the anxiety of tracking triangular blips on an air traffic control radar to the routinized, quotidian behaviors of the doomed airline crew and passengers going about their business, save four intense Arab men. Without making overt commentary on our country's bureaucratic red tape then (and probably still now), Greengrass studiously details the dueling jurisdictions of the FAA and NEADS, with the FAA trying to ground all planes while the military trying to scramble fighters to respond to the terrorist threat ("Listen, we're at war with someone. Until we figure it out, we're shutting down!" barks Sliney). Greengrass exhibits mastery of the absolute chaos of action in the tight spaces of the plane and employs brilliant juxtaposition in the final moments of the passengers reciting the Lord's Prayer with the hijackers praying to Allah. It's a powerful, understated look at the empowerment of religion, and how it can provide or pervert. Respectfully but realistically using the 9/11 footage which has affected a nation, Greengrass absolutely puts you inside the command centers and airline cabins of the primary actors of that tragic day. Speaking of the actors, there's an amiable mix of unheralded pros and non-actors working alongside each other. The highlight is Ben Sliney playing Ben Sliney, seamless as his likable but take-charge self. Seemingly, the idea is that the real hero in the face of tragedy was the group, how a GROUP of people did everything they could to save lives from the ground as a GROUP of passengers did all they could to save even more lives while in the air. Unlike the "Flight 93" movie on cable this year, not a single person is identified on the plane in "United 93," although those who have followed closely the lives and actions of the people on the plane can familiarize themselves with their representations and personalities. Is it too soon? Who's to say? Everyone in this country was touched by 9/11 either directly or indirectly. If this same movie were released ten years from now, the anxiety would still be fresh under Greengrass' fine navigation of the challenges of that day (a frustrated NEADS commander, in response to learning his crippled response capability, fumes, "I can't defend the Eastern Seaboard with only four planes!"). As a drama, it works. As an historical recreation, it works. As an honorable remembrance, it works, too. Whether you feel you're "ready" or not to see this movie is negated by the final, frantic fifteen minutes, which are so frenzied, manic, and desperate, it tears at your tear ducts. This movie is strong, elemental, with such a regard for the human spirit, it haunts as much as it helps. "United 93" is hard, but necessary, to watch. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson