--- title: "United 93: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/united-93/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/united-93" critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 6 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # United 93 (2006): what the critics said Critics' score 77 from 6 reviews: 5 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond strongly to Paul Greengrass’s restrained, intensely immediate reconstruction, praising its seriousness and attention to human decisions under pressure. The praise centres on the stripped-down docudrama approach: jagged camerawork, overlapping dialogue and cross-cutting make the confusion palpable without relying on conventional dramatic flourishes. Several reviews find that the avoidance of hindsight, sentimentality and jingoism gives the depiction of passengers, crew and officials its force. The disagreement concerns what this realism explains, and whether reconstruction alone is enough. Empire admires the command-centre sequences but finds the treatment of the hijackers’ motivations limited; Slant Magazine goes further, judging the film ideologically muddled and its frenetic camerawork exploitative rather than illuminating. The spread is therefore substantial despite the predominantly positive response: most critics see sensitivity and discipline in Greengrass’s methods, while the strongest dissent questions the ethics of turning these events into an immersive experience. ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 2 June 2006. Paul Greengrass delivers a blazingly powerful and gripping real-time recreation of the hijacking that is the film of the year. The director singles out the docu-style intensity and the passengers' desperate uprising for particular impact in this ordeal cinema memorial. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2006/jun/02/1) ## Empire — Dan Jolin Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 26 May 2006. Greengrass delivers an intensely real-time docudrama focused on the human decisions amid the crisis, with standout moments in the command centers. It serves as a vital historical document and cathartic portrayal but falls short in exploring the hijackers' motivations. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/united-93-review/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 28 April 2006. The film is a persuasively narrated, scrupulously tasteful re-creation of the events aboard the fourth plane hijacked on Sept. 11. Greengrass employs jagged camerawork, overlapping naturalistic dialogue, and cross-cutting to deliver visceral, combat-zone verisimilitude while following the 9/11 Commission Report's trajectory. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/movies/defiance-under-fire-paul-greengrasss-harrowing-united-93.html) ## The Independent — Thomas Sutcliffe Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 16 June 2006. The film prioritizes restraint and naturalism over dramatic flair to respectfully depict the events. Its power comes from a determined avoidance of hindsight and artistic embellishment in portraying the passengers and crew. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/columnists/thomas-sutcliffe/thomas-sutcliffe-the-height-of-filmmaking-6098051.html) ## Slant Magazine — Keith Uhlich Rating 2/4. 24 April 2006. The critic finds the film ideologically muddled and exploitative, with frenetic handheld camerawork and a focus on recreation over clarity that turns the tragedy into a somber sideshow. He singles out the involvement of victims' families and the film's commercial tie-ins as particularly unsettling. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/united-93/) ## Sight and Sound — Ali Jaafar 1 July 2006. Greengrass recreates the events of the hijacked flight with serious-minded sensitivity and a stripped-down docudrama aesthetic, consulting victims' families and using real air-traffic officials. The film avoids jingoism and mawkishness while conveying the threat of the day and the bravery of ordinary people. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/3315) ## Eye for Film — Anton Bitel Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 2 June 2006. The review finds the film a compelling, if inevitably speculative, real-time reconstruction of events on the doomed flight that encapsulates the anxieties and sorrows of the age. It places viewers directly in the harrowing scenario of the War on Terror and confronts them with questions about their own responses to rapidly evolving horrific circumstances. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/united-93-film-review-by-anton-bitel) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/united-93.md