Synopsis
Thousands of activists arrive in Seattle, Washington in masses to protest the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 (World Trade Organization). Although it began as a peaceful protest with a goal of stopping the WTO talks, it escalated into a full-scale riot and eventually, a State of Emergency that pitted protesters against the Seattle Police Department and the National Guard.
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Cast
- Martin HendersonJay
- Michelle RodriguezLou
- Woody HarrelsonDale
- Charlize TheronElla
- Jennifer CarpenterSam
- André 3000Django
- Ray LiottaMayor Jim Tobin
- Connie NielsenJean
- Rade ŠerbedžijaDr. Maric
- Ivana MiličevićCarla
- 75
TV Guide Magazine
What the film lacks in artistry it makes up for in commitment. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
While it makes no bones about where its sympathies lie, these fictional stories show a genuine fascination with the role politics plays on both sides of such confrontations and how things can spin out of control with no single person to blame. - 67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Is it too much to ask that the fictional scenes have at least some of the complexity and unpredictability of the real-life theater? - 60
Variety
Picture's ambition, cogency and decent performances make up for its uneven aspects. Woody Harrelson has some especially good moments as a cop. - 50
Village Voice
Flapping like a scarecrow in the wind, Battle in Seattle is too frantic to make more than a transitory impression, yet too responsibly hackneyed in its characterizations to achieve pure tabloid hysteria. - 50
The New York Times
A drama is only as convincing as its characters. The people awkwardly forced together in Battle in Seattle are rhetorical mouthpieces tied to the sketchy plotlines of a so-so Hollywood ensemble movie. - 50
New York Post
In his directing debut Battle in Seattle, actor Stuart Towns end does an impressive job (on a shoestring budget) of re-creating the massive street protests that forced the cancellation of the World Trade Organization summit in 1999. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
Getting an inside view on events is fascinating enough to carry the movie.