Battle in Seattle

A very impressive directorial effort from Stuart Townsend with this poignant, interesting look at the WTO riots. A solid cast shines in an otherwise heavy-handed film that still doesn't feel preachy.

If anyone was prepared to like this movie, it was me. I've been to numerous WTO and FTAA protests, contributed some of the footage for the credits, and appreciated any attention given to these issues. I have no problems with the portrayal of any issues in the film, its just badly written, with trite dialogue and shallow, undeveloped characters. Like Silver City, I felt the filmmaker's hearts are in the right place, but its just badly executed.

Really well made, I must say. The riot scenes are pretty fantastic, and it can be extremely moving. It's way too heavy-handed for me to fully appreciate it, but I do admire it from simply a filmmaking perspective.

Well the subject alone gets a lot of points for me because I'm biased. Movie does a pretty decent job being fair to most (though maybe not enough about the actual anarchists there), and humanizing everyone. Coulda done without the love story and the other cliche moments but this was well put together and there are some great scenes.

<==WTO / Democracy==>

Ok not the greatest realization as a movie but I give it 100 point for just tackling the subject.

The first few minutes gives you the impression it's another 'Zeitgeist'/'An inconvenient Truth' type of film, but it quickly shifts away from that (not saying that type of film wouldn't have worked, in fact, I would love to see that as well). There were some beautifully depicted scenes of the riot that showed the grisly events for what they were, but there were also some scenes and dialog that left me scratching my head, the film was good enough without trying to buy our sympathy.

Really well done, intense and interesting. It's a bit all over the place at times but this is a cool look at these protests, trying to show all sides of the protest do differing effect.

Excellent portrayal of the riots during the WTO summit in Seattle. BiS tackles a difficult topic without getting too cheesy. The whole film is very convincing, but I particularly liked Šerbedžija's MSF-part.

Too light on detail.

Despite attempting to be evenhanded there's a scene where a policeman clubs a pregnant woman causing a miscarriage, which never happened. This is a crucial point of plot progress and character development, which goes to show what sitting through this is like. The WTO is shitty but this film just makes you roll your eyes.

modern kırılma noktalarından birine dair iyi ve/veya problemli anladığı şeyleri araya ucuz atışları da karıştırarak iyi aksettiriyor. görüntü yönetmenliği özellikle dikkat çekici zira kendi formunun -tvye karşı- üstünlüğünü gösterirken film hem dökümantasyonu hem stili kotarıyor. ama siyaseti algılayışı fazla batı merkezli, polisi anlayışı fazla sempatik kalıyor. yine de ana akımdan çıkabilecek nadide bir iş.

#11#, story, casting.

Our sociopathic overlords and the psychopaths that protect them are depicted pretty realistically. The Hollywood romance and dialogue of the protesters drag this down though.

Decent movie with great cast which isn't used to it's full potential yet it's only big plus about this movie. Real clips from protests fit in good. Since plot couldn't be altered much, they could do better something else like character development.

Had some very lovely images, but this is one of those flicks that will be rather contentious just because of the subject matter. I'd like to see Michelle Rodriguez play a different character every once in awhile. She's pretty dialed in to the squinch-faced quasi-badass Latina, which gets boring. I was all over the sometimes-seamless transition between dramatized depiction and legit footage of the riots. Things could have been better, some of the dialogue was wonky while some was brilliant.

Revolution and capitalism are hard to put on film due to their complexity and lack of a real center. Usually a film zooms in on one particular group or struggle, as is the case here, and documentary is usually far more effective than fiction (reality exceeds its limits.) Battle in Seattle does an OK job at portraying both sides, but it's certainly not exceptional and it is filled with Hollywood cliches; a stellar cast can't holdup a messy script. Didacticism is usually a mistake.

Townsend can direct a movie? You gotta be kidding me. First Clooney, then this. B.S. sounds a bit pretentious from time to time since a lot goes unexplored for the sake of keeping the machine going. This is one of the few movies that explores activism from a mainstream point of view. Luckily Townsend avoids most of the wide open pits ahead and delivered a rollercoaster. Also ensemble cast does a good job.

Impressively plotted and edited, albeit the characters are a tad cliche. Plus, it explores an issue so timely and politically volatile, I'm surprised it hasn't been tackled by a more 'mainstream' Hollywood film (wait, no I'm not surprised).

Sensationalist? Probably, but still quite compelling viewing. Townsend presents a somewhat one-dimentional view on anarchism, but his real focus is on the failure of the WTO, and in highlighting this at least he succeeds. Townsend gives you just enough of each character to make you care a little for their plight and the varied cast do a solid job also. Overall generally well made, and interestingly put together and edited, but not exceptional.

"Fictionalized drama frustrates, rather than facilitates, understanding about the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Battle to Seattle." - Nick Schager

A gritty and brutal, but somehow still hopeful film about the WTO convention in Seattle and the protest-turned-riot that ensued. It felt much like United 93 in its docu-drama "tell it like it was" style, mixed with Crash's "you're all connected"-ness and a little of An Inconvenient Truth's activist streak thrown in for good measure. Features strong performances from everyone, including surprising turns from "Torque" star Martin Henderson and god-damned Andre 3000... Ultimately, it

Good Movie