5/5 The Best Movie I've Ever Seen and I worked at Blockbuster!
  by J. Steele (Voorhees, NJ United States)
This movie has incredible editing, sound, music, and especially content. The message is beyond powerful and it deals with some of the most important subject matter possible - human rights, creating a better world, and freedom and democracy. Having worked at Blockbuster Video for years, I've seen countless films, and this is in the top 10 I'd recommend to anyone. To me personally I'd put it at the top of the list. It's suspenseful, unpredictable, action packed, emotional, dramatic, and based on an incredible true story that happened in Seattle in 1999. This film can inspire anyone to join the movement to do their part for a better world!

4/5 Gripping drama based on true events
  by z hayes (plano,texas)
All I knew of Stuart Townsend prior to watching this movie [which he has ably directed] was that he is an actor and also boyfriend of Charlize Theron. Well, "Battle in Seattle" showcases his directing talent, and has a reputable cast in it too. The movie makes for a riveting watch from the beginning, when a brief history of how the WTO came about is shown, right till the very end. The premise of the movie has to do with the WTO conference held in Seattle in 1999, when riots broke out and violence escalated between rioters and the police. There are three 'camps' in this movie - the first are the protestors, as played by Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, Jennifer Carpenter and Andre Benjamin. The second is the mayor who is trying his best to coordinate the event without too much interference or disruption [the mayor's role is portrayed by Ray Liotta], and finally, there's the couple looking forward to their first baby [played by Woody Harrelson in a cop role & Charlize Theron] and how the riots impact their lives.

The action almost never lets up from the get go - as a viewer, I almost felt like I was there during the riots, its so real and well-portrayed. Townsend effectively weaves in the storytelling with actual video footage of the events as it happened back in 1999. The cast does an excellent job as well, credibly portraying the various story arcs, especially those of the protestors and Michelle Rodriguez's performance is a highlight in this movie. The story arc featuring Wooody Harrelson and Charlize Theron struck a rather false note for me, and seemed overly melodramatic. On the whole though, this is quite a powerful movie with a compelling voice and I highly recommend it to those who love social dramas focused on activism.


4/5 Excellent and Caring Real-Life Storytelling
  by O. Marie (Seattle)
Coming from Seattle, having lived through the WTO protests, I am proud S. Townsend took this topic to task. Townsend is a sweetheart and brave soul to care about the impact this event had on our city, and the world at large. Thank you for coming here and creating this film! It is well done, and I'm gratified by much of the original network news footage as well as the storyline.

This film will speak to young Americans just coming to understand how our economics impact the planet. Some characters may seem cheesy, but I found them to be authentic, easy to identify with for the most part. Yes, many people were tear-gassed and beaten in the streets for peaceful protesting. Yes, this went for 3 solid days, here in the heart of Seattle. Yes, I had a friend sleeping on my couch for a few nights, since he couldn't SEE after being tear-gassed. Yes, some children were tear-gassed, walking as pedestrians with their parents down the street. Yes, the city was under curfew and citizens were told to stay in their homes. And yes, the streets of our city were completely ripped-up. All the shop windows were kicked in and... Well, it all had an interesting way of addressing our materialism! Just in time for the Christmas shopping season. YAY!

(Seattle has not been the same since.)

What makes this film important is, it does give some human documentation to the FIRST international protest which was ever organized on the internet.

Into the third day of protests, media attempted to keep national news reports on the down-low; we had to tune-in to PBS in order to find out what was happening. For many, it represents the beginning of the needed CHANGE we were to strive for - - coming into nine long years later! After the events of 9/11, the war in Iraq, and with the election of Barack Obama. The true-life story behind this film shows us how hard-earned change can be; that it does not happen overnight. It happens in small revolutions of people, coming together with united intention.

As America falls into a recession which affects all nations, globally, and as we continue to work at pulling ourselves out of the wars in the Middle East, this film is an important, informative way to educate yourself on our global economic issues and the needs for change. If you're without a job right now, see if you can rent this film and think about the possibility of going to work for PEACE. If you need a little inspiration about root networks? And why it is that going green can help us in the future? This film and the true-life stories behind it will show you the way.

5/5 Neglected film about an important event in American history
  by Julius (Los Angeles, CA United States)
This was one of the best films I saw in 2008 (yes, I was lucky to be at one of 2 screenings in Los Angeles). Frankly, it was better than any of the Oscar nominated Best Films. It's well-shot, well-acted, well-researched (as I understand it, the factual basis is completely accurate) and well-written. What's amazing is that though the writer-director is a well-established Irish actor, this is the first film he has made. The film is very much an ensemble work, weaving a tapestry of all the players in the Seattle riots (politicians, cops, activists, by-standers). What I particularly liked about this film was just how fair it was to everybody. Nobody is a villain even when they do very bad things (the cops, the mayor). There are very real motivations... people had the best of intentions. It's a complex portrait - nothing like the media coverage given to us. It's a completely entertaining movie, but it's an important film as well. I think this is a movie every patriotic American should see, and by patriotic, I mean those who believe in the U.S. Constitution. But it was financed by a Canadian and had no major studio distribution so thus, nobody knew about it.

1/5 Amateurish
  by Steve Frazier (Seattle)
I wanted to see this movie because I was living and working in downtown Seattle at the time of these events. I was able to watch a lot of the protests unfold from my office window, and walked through the protests on my way to and from work. I won't quibble with some of the historical inaccuracies - hey, that's movie-making.

But I did want to point out that this is like some bad war movie from the 40's or 50's -- just a bunch of pot cliches and paper-thin characters strung together to try to make a movie out of a very interesting historical event: Angry cop. Pregnant wife. Overwhelmed mayor. Heroic young protesters, debating over who is more courageous and idealistic.

I did enjoy the way they edited in some actual historic footage. Otherwise, this was more like watching someone's film-school mid-term project than an actual commercial movie release. It would have been better if they would have twisted the facts more, and had some UFO's blast downtown Seattle with laser beams or something.