I just caught the last half of Flight 93 the A&E original (based on true events) movie about the one flight that did not reach its intended target on September 11, 2001. It is a riveting and realistic portrayal, one that does not spare its viewers or its heroes from the awful events. Even though it is a story with a foregone conclusion, that does not prevent it from being exciting and engrossing, with a cast that is up to the challenge of portraying real people who endured the events that cast a pall over our nation. Indeed, that is the most interesting aspect of the film; we have living, breathing representations of the brave passengers and crew who rushed the cabin and overwhelmed the terrorists, preventing the flight from destroying a Washington DC target, likely the White House or the Capitol building.
The effects are clearly television grade, but the effective use of Battlestar Galactica-esque camera-like CGI adds an element of freneticism and urgency to the movie. Fortunately, the effects are not the focus, merely one way in which the filmmakers portray the frightening and tragic events that occurred.
The moments of human drama are not forced, and the overall effect is touching. When the passengers and crew eventually do rush the cabin to retake the plane, it is a moment of pure adrenaline, but one tinged with the emotional impact of real life heroes attempting to change one tiny course of history. Their success is never shown except through the merest hint of a sound, and the moment on screen is brilliant in its simplicity and humanity.
Overall, I thought the film a fitting paen to the heroes and families of heroes who died that day to save a plane from becoming an even more devastating weapon against our nation. It’s definitely worth watching. Check it out all this week on A&E.