Flight 93 Review

This 2006 TV movie broadcast by A&E recounts the tragedy and heroism of those aboard the historic 9/11 flight, as well as the tense drama on the ground.

To be brutally frank, with all the timelines and records available, writing a script for a film like this takes only a bit of imagination and the proper respect for the material. And as it’s easy to hit the tale’s emotional peaks with memories still fresh, even a Popsicle stick puppet show production of the story could make us choke up, and probably nab a fistful of awards.

That said, TV veteran director Peter Markle annoys a bit by using the same kind of jerky/zoomy camerawork that’s the house style of his CSI episodes, but is wise in keeping things as simple as possible and not introducing too many extraneous elements. In a movie where much of the drama unfolds via telephone conversations, he leaves as much of the emotional burden as possible in the hands of his capable no-name cast, who all come through nicely.