The Flight That Fought Back

Flight 93 The Flight That Fought Back was the first Flight 93 movie I ever saw. It continues from where The Hamburg Cell, a BBC production which was shown on HBO early in 2005 leaves off. The only two things that are strange is they don't show the hijackers entering the cockpit, the heroes pouring water over the hijacker that was guarding them, or one hijacker saying "Into the cockpit....", etc. They did the best they could since the flight data recorder of Flight 93 has not yet been released to the public, and I can't wait to hear them myself. There are and will be other movies about Flight 93 and I can't wait to see them. FOr some strange reason, we don't see Lisa Beamer commenting on this video. A lot of changes have taken place since the terrorist attacks.

This docudrama is an important piece of American history which no one will ever forget. It brings us much closer to the events on flight 93, the plane which failed in its attempt to massacre the Capitol building in Washington D.C. due to the heroic efforts of passengers and crew. This is it's strength. Its weakness is the films attempt to well over-dramatize the aftermath of human feelings and emotions with pieces of dream-like sequences of the passengers while having voice-overs from family and friends. Just watching and listening to their honesty in their faces and eyes was needed here - nothing more. The writers thought that cutting away from family member interviews to heaven-like dramatizations would enhance the effect on us, then we end up just wondering why it's being "styled." Its blunders aside, the film educated me not only on this memorable day, but the strength of the human spirit. The mixture of the ordeal and family interviews, which help us to learn about these heroes, is wove together nicely. Despite the outcome of this horrific day and the terrors the world has endured, this docudrama is an important one, and one we should view with pride.

While nobody can feel anything but sympathy for the passengers on Flight 93, it cannot be ignored that this 'documentary' gave very short shrift to anything but the official explanation for how this plane went down. A very slick and polished drama, this film tugs at the emotions expertly, but leaves questions such as 'where is the wind noise coming from on the cockpit tapes?' totally open. Also totally ignored is passengers' reports via cell phone of smoke outside the plane. These two items would leave the impression the plane had been holed by cannon fire from the F16s which Kiefer assures us were '150' miles away, and not possibly involved.

Several stories were new to me, and one that stuck out in particular was that of passenger Richard Guadagno. Aided by a powerful performance by actor Bryce Wagoner, Guadagno's story was one of the highlights of this movie for me as I learned about one of the unsung heroes of Flight 93.

This is one powerful film that truly brings back the taut emotions of September 11, 2001. It helped put a number of the familiar stories into perspective. We've all heard of a handful of the passengers of Flight 93 and their heroic stories, the "Let's roll" quote, and all that. The power of this movie was that we learn about so many of the other passengers and get a glimpse into what they might have experienced. Thanks, Discovery Channel!

The Flight That Fought Back is a tasteful dramatization of the events leading up to and following the hijacking of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Narrated by Keifer Sutherland and featuring many actual recordings and many other recreations of the passenger's attempt to regain control of the aircraft. Passenger families and associates interviews are frequent, to give a better understanding of the people involved.

The movie is very tasteful and tactful in it's recreation and interviews, and gives an excellent of the events that happened on that tragic Tuesday morning.

The movie is heavily stylized. Thanks to Sutherland's narration and the frequent multiple camera angles in one shot, not to mention the occasional clock at the bottom of the screen, the film occasionally seems like an episode of 24.

Overall a good watch and showcase of the first people to give their life fighting terrorism.