U2: Rattle and Hum (1988)

Absolutely brilliant

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

At first when I noticed this title on the cable menu, I wasn't sure what to make of it. I just didn't understand what it was. Was it a movie, a biography, what? I sat down to watch it after I had recorded it, expecting little.This turned out to be the best documentary I've ever seen on a band. I've always loved U2 and their music, but this made me fall in love with them all over again. The live performances, beautifully filmed in black & white, were the BEST VERSIONS of some of the songs that I've ever heard. 'Bad,' 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' and the gospel version of 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' were raw and powerful.But mostly what I enjoyed about this movie was that is was 99% music and little talk. The commentaries were short and the songs played all the way through. It was an intense two hours of nothing but great U2 music! I recommend this for any U2 fan, it will not disappoint!

I have recently watched this DVD again for the countless number of times. It just gets better and better. Rattle And Hum takes you on a journey with U2 as they talk about their music, current tour and thoughts on various subjects.This Music/Documentary gives a great insight to how U2 emerged into one of the most influential bands of all time. The selected songs, which include some of music's classics like "With Or Without You" and "Pride" are a must to watch. The brief but frank interviews give a somewhat comic and emotional look at the individual band members.This is simply a must have for all U2 fans and a must see for all others.

When U2 arrives in the fall 1987 to start the second leg of their American tour to promote "The Joshua Tree" (1987), they already filled with enthusiasm millions of Americans with their masterpiece and they were showered with praise by virtually all musical critics but also important newspapers (the magazine Newsweek even put them on the cover!). The amount? Bono and his band were crowned the biggest rock and roll band in the world. A status which isn't easy to assume and when one has a rock and roll masterpiece under one's belt, delivering it a follow-up is a difficult task. Maybe that's why the most famous Irish quartet had the idea to make a film accompanied by an album: to try to forge ahead and to take a new musical direction.So, "U2: Rattle and Hum" (1988) is a documentary which goes back over the band's tour in America where they alternate concerts and cultural discoveries (the visit of Graceland). Their album "the Joshua Tree" had already expressed their fascination for America, the movie "Rattle and Hum" confirms it. The director Phil Joanou (Martin Scorsese turned down this role) also filled his work with interviews and recording sessions which took place after the tour in 1988. Each member's disposition is revealed in these interviews but also throughout the movie and during their tour especially with concerts. So, in Joanou's opus, Bono and his men reaffirm their positions on a social, cultural and above all musical point of view while not forgetting their Irish roots. Concerning music which constitutes the backbone of the movie, the band explores several facets of American music. The Stax-soul tribute "Angel of Harlem", the blues "When Love Comes to Town" with a prestigious guest: BB King, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in a gospel version show a progressive Americanization of the band. But in parallel, not to lose their identity, the four members remain faithful to their musical influences; either it is the sinewy "Desire" or the atmospheric "Heartland" that sounds like a "the Joshua Tree" outtake. Hence an impression of hodgepodge: the tracks cut in studio are rather badly linked up. It is difficult to let oneself rock with beautiful heavenly flights then to follow with unusual tracks for the band without losing the thread.That said, the musical trimmings that somewhat hinders the movie didn't stop Bono and his men to write some of U2's best songs. On another extent, Phil Joanou's technical feats enable the spectator to attend the concerts as if he were on stage with the band. The latter is presented in this state like we would imagine them for the ones who have never seen them in concert: fiery, feverish, passionated by their music and ready to make a declaration aiming at peace in Northern Ireland and why not in the rest of the world (Bono's words in the middle of Sunday Bloody Sunday"). And I address the fans of the band who may have the album but not seen the movie and the casual listeners: a good part of U2's hits of the eighties and notably from "the Joshua Tree" are performed on stage: "Bad", "Where the Streets Have No Name", "With or Without You".I also think that having shot the movie in black and white and in color gives it a arty side. At the end of the day, it's a worthy but suicidal undertaking. Indeed, the limited commercial career of Joanou's opus clearly shows once again that this kind of film is seldom successful in the theaters in spite of the fact that the video was a best-seller in the Anglo-Saxon countries. And for U2, the eighties ended in a little rough way but fortunately, the nineties will begin (and for me end) triumphantly with "Achtung Baby" (1991).

I love the movie- and U2- and that review I just read was excellent, I would like to ask whee you got the footage from?! Also , just because it's annoying me, it's not 'Rock and roll stops the traffic', it's 'Rock and roll- Stop the traffic.' I have loved U2 since I was about 10 and ATYCLB came out. My favourite album is the 'Rattle and Hum' album though, and my favourite song is 'Heartland.' I've loved that song ever since seeing it in the film with them on the hill looking over the river. I think that Rattle and Hum is good, but some videos purely of U2's concerts- such as Live at Red Rocks and U2 Go Home- are almost as good, if in a different way.