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I was one of those that felt this movie was coming out way too soon. But I guess I was mostly worried that it would exploit the events of 9/11 in order to create a pandering, self-important Hollywood-style drama that had nothing of relevance to say with so little time allowed for history to give us perspective. Thankfully, director Paul Greengrass tells this story exactly right and left me feeling that not only was it not too soon but it is probably an important film to see. It reminds us of the horror of that day while showing you just how unprepared we were for it and I'm sure how unprepared we still are. The fact that the military could not get ahold of the President during those fateful moments is infuriating to watch, knowing what Farenheit 9/11 has already showed us.

I was nerve-wracked through the entire film as all the feelings of that day came back to me. But by focusing on what might have happened inside the flight that went down in Pennsylvania and what actually did happen inside the air traffic control, FAA and military centers at the height of the attack the film manages to stick to a part of the story that we haven't seen played out over and over on the news. The filmmakers also made a smart move by not casting recognizeable actors (although I think I did recognize Fay from that old show 'Wings' as one of the passengers) and by filming it in a way that felt more like documentary or reality rather than a stylized Hollywood movie. I was also worried that the rise-up of the passengers would be played as jingoistic American propaganda but that scene was probably more harrowing and terrifying than it was uplifting or inspiring. Even the now famous "Let's roll" is barely heard when Todd Beamer speaks it and frankly in all the confusion I'm not even sure which guy Todd Beamer was. The last thing I would have wanted to see would be a Bruce Willis-style uttering of that phrase just before the climactic passenger uprising and Greengrass avoids all of that and honors the reality of the event greatly in doing so.

Unfortunately, now this film will usher in much less tasteful 9/11 'tributes' I'm sure. I'm really not looking forward to seeing Nicholas Cage running around Ground Zero in the upcoming World Trade Center this summer.

Posted at May 6, 2006 05:03 PM