On 5 May 2006 09:39:51 -0700, "Rob Arndt" wrote:

I saw the movie on opening day and the theater was half empty. Most of
the people there were old people and adults.

Consider time of day, location of theater, day of week, etc. Consider
that your singular observation is anecdotal and not statistically
significant.

While I would say the movie was good, it is far from great and its
$11.6 mil opening means it is a movie failure; either that, or people
just don;t want to relive 9/11.

You will notice a couple of things in the movie that for me made it
unrealistic:

1) absence of any children and young adults except for one girl who is
given a cell phone by a fellow passenger to call home

Note that the passenger list has been published, the passenger load on
the flight was light, the departure time of day was very early and it
was a Tuesday during school year. Visit your local airport and observe
who travels at 7-9 AM.

2) while people were praying, the screaming and "Oh God, I don't want
to die" pleas were omitted largely

The "Oh God...." stuff is largely from grade-B fictional movies. Very
few folks actually accept their impending demise, remaining in strong
denial until it's over. The "Oh God..." pleading usually is when
someone is already seriously injured and in pain.

3) the group of men that planned the counter-attack to retake the plane
seemed larger than life and NOT real people- as if when disaster struck
it was "HEY, LET'S TAKE THE PLANE BACK ASSAULT PLANS" supported by a
bunch of other adults. I know it's a hero film meant to make the nation
feel better knowing that Americans fought back... just like Pearl
Harbor but the movie comes off as too weak in some areas and too
self-assuredly strong in others.

Well, DUH! Yes, that 's exactly the point. This group of non-descript
common people suddenly became larger-than-life when the enormity of
their situation struck home.

The movie is a relatively seemless merging of documented facts on the
ground and constructed approximations of what might have been going on
aboard the aircraft built on various conversations and scraps of
dialog. That means it will be weak in some areas and strong in others.

The most shocking parts in the movie to me was the point where the air
traffic controllers lost the second aircraft's position below radar and
then watch as it slams into the second tower and the scenes in the
cockpit as the passagers struggled to gain control as the ground rushes
up at them- and then black screen.

I know that for the sake of the audience and the victims' families the
panic and fear were toned down and as I said before I don't recall
seeing any children or young people. I'm sure the flight had them...

What leads to your surety? Simple opinion or basis in fact?

The more disturbing film, "The World Trade Center" opens Aug 9th and is
told from the ground from the Port Authority POV based on two real men.
Judging by "Flight 93" I'm not sure if people will want to see that one
either as preliminary reviews all say there WILL be crying in the
theater and not for the weak hearted.

After seeing "Flight 93" I'm not sure I'm going to the second film. A
third Pentagon strike film is in the works as well based on another
true story...

If you saw "Flight 93" you saw a different movie than is being
discussed here. The recent film release in theaters is "United
93"--the movie "Flight 93" was released several months ago, is now out
on DVD and was aired on A&E last weekend. Different movie.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com