Never Forget, But In Case You Did...

In a few weeks, whether you're ready for it or not, the summer movie season will be upon us. Back in the day, before movie studio marketing budgets exploded to where they are now, the summer movie season officially started Memorial Day weekend, the last weekend in May. Now, it seems to have crept up almost one full month ahead, with Mission Impossible III releasing May 5th- and one smaller movie that could fly under the radar (horrid pun) as one of the most talked about summer movies of the season. United 93, a film based on the only terrorist attack on September 11 that was thwarted, will be released on April 28, and it's already causing controversy.

It was about a week and a half ago when this film's official trailer was released online. I first saw the preview in theaters when I saw The Inside Man on opening weekend (an excellent cops and robbers flick with an exceptional cast). This week the preview made news when it was pulled from being seen in a New York movie theater after a woman broke down in tears after seeing it. We're not talking about the actual movie, but only the trailer. Question: If we censor this trailer to the public, will the terrorist have won? This sounds like sarcasm, but I'm half not-joking.

I've asked few friends about their feelings toward this event being told on screen. Most have the expected response, "I've been through that day in New York first hand, and have seen it over and over again in the days and weeks after, why would I want to spend $10 to re-live it now on a giant screen? I'm saving that dough up for Mi:III the week after. Do you think Tom Cruise will likely be a dad by then?" Okay, that Mi:III part I made up, but the general consensus is that people are troubled by it.

I think I'm one of the few people that is actually really interested in seeing the film. When I first heard about it in the works, I admit I had my concerns, but I think Universal's positioned the film well and has been pretty careful in the way they've presented it thus far. If you go to the movie's website, you're able to view a short feature from the director providing his perspective of the film, with interviews from several family members sharing their thoughts on why they believe this story should be told as a film at this time. It was originally called simply 'Flight 93,' but changed probably to help clarify that it's not about the flight, but about the people in the flight that made the ultimate sacrifice, on their terms. Of all the documentaries, books and articles I've seen and read over the years about that dreadful day, this is probably the single most heroic story with the least documentation on what transpired during those 84 minutes up there. Will it be tough to watch? Mostly likely. Emotional? Absolutely. Will we think about it after the credits roll? Hopefully. But isn't that the point, to never forget?


Next week's film commentary - Scary Movie 4 (not really, but I hate to leave posts on a downer). You probably just saved yourself a movie ticket to a crappy B movie by watching this trailer (but you also just lost 2 minutes of your life).