Movie Review

Battle in Seattle (2008)

Reviewed by Owen Gleiberman | Sep 24, 2008

Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

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EW's GRADE

A-

Details Limited Release: Sep 19, 2008; Rated: R; Length: 111 Minutes; Genre: Drama; With: Andre Benjamin, Woody Harrelson and Charlize Theron

Image credit: Ed Araquel

POWER TO THE PEOPLE Charlize Theron stars in Battle in Seattle

It sounds like a bad TV movie: a drama based on the protests that halted the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle. Yet Stuart Townsend, the veteran actor-turned-director (he's also the boyfriend of Charlize Theron, who costars), re-creates it all with stunning passion and skill in Battle in Seattle. His staging has a tumult, a multi-POV immediacy that brings to mind Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday. The movie captures the idealism of the anti-WTO agitators, the anxiety of the cops, and the smugness of the anarchists who made the protest violent. A–

Originally posted Sep 24, 2008 Published in issue #1014 Oct 03, 2008 Order article reprints

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