Movie Review – Battle In Seattle (2007)

Stuart Townsend has made a quiet masterpiece with Battle in Seattle. His film is not perfect, but it is one that is able draw you in if you let it and then take you on a wild real time romp during the battle in Seattle. The film follows a few different people during the 1999 riots in Seattle. We have people on all sides of the situation which allows the director to give a good variety of perspectives and make them all believable. Battle in Seattle seems much like Bloody Sunday with its real time reenactment of a real life event, but adds the new modern style of film making which cuts from character to character to allow the viewer a wide scope of the story rather than a single minded following of one person.

The acting on all accounts was quite good. With names like Michelle Rodriguez, Joshua Jackson, Ray Liotta, Charlize Theron, and Woody Harrelson you are sure to get at least some good acting, but they all were on their A game in this one. The only bad part about having so many big names in a film is that they all have small roles. The many small parts work well together here though as each story intertwines with the other. The real emotions portrayed by the actors added depth to the already harsh and gritty story. Some scenes are absolutely beautiful in their sincerity and of course all of these emotions would not work without good directing.

Townsend does an excellent job with the directing and ties all of the emotions together to keep the viewer flowing through the story at a good pace. The film does a great job of presenting the passion that some of the characters felt along with the sadness and frustration of those that were involved. Much of the emotion comes from the realization that you could relate to at least one of the characters. Overall, we have a superbly written and directed film with plenty of acting talent that has more to offer than it gets credit for. I had heard almost nothing about this film and possibly that is because it is not a mainstream movie like those movies that surrounded it at Blockbuster, but it turned out to be that diamond in the rough that I was looking for. The main complaints may be that it was a little harsh at times (although that honesty is what I loved about it) and that it had some slow or dark times. Those are not gong to distract those looking for a well made film about a true life event. I recommend it to anyone looking for a gritty modern look at a bloody day in our history.

The Skinny Version

Raw Score: 781,776
Sharon Movie? No

Director: Stuart Townsend
Writer: Stuart Townsend
Genre: Action/Drama

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