martoskirov This is definitely one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The acting was mediocre , the plot was terrible, it was extremely unrealistic mainly due to the fact that 2 guys (and i don't care if they were wearing body armor) were able to start an open shoot-out with a 100 cops and almost win. My favorite part was in the end when one of the SWAT guys was heavily armored except for the waist downwards he was wearing shorts and some sneakers. I've heard that they have to react extremely quickly but this is ridiculous. I laughed my ass of at that point. If it were meant to be a comedy I'd give the movie a 10 but sadly that is not the case.

zaenkney Every morning of the 28th of February my daughter and her family call me to wish me a very happy birthday, except, of course, when she calls on my actual birthday, the 29th which is leap year. Unfortunately, my mother, died entirely too young of brain cancer on that leap year day in 1992. What are the odds? I have asked all five of my children, and pleaded with my well meaning daughter, not to bring attention to that date, but to Mother's Day, instead. Well, the phone rang on the morning of February 28 1997 and I picked it up ready to hear "Happy Birthday!" which recalls those very sad memories. Instead my daughter instructed me to switch on the TV. and quickly informed me of what was going on in LA. It's funny how self pity flies out the window in view of a highly visible, thanks to the media, potentially large scale massacre of citizens and LAPD officers. Still, memories were recalled.Nightmares! The boogie-man! The frightening vision of Michael Rennie's character as he marched down the ramp from his spaceship in "The Day the Earth Stood Still". The director of '44 Minutes', Yves Simmoneau, does not allow us but a short amount of time to see the antagonists without their layers of armor. Barely humanized, instead, they appear like pit bulls bred for one thing only. Cops pitted against such animals cannot earn enough money for what they do. In fact, just knowing the potential of such a situation garners consistent hazard pay, in my opinion. According to everything I've read and heard, not one policeman left his post during this incident in 1997 LA.Simmoneau truly outdoes himself, considering this is just a made for TV movie. In fact, he apparently sticks very close to the facts and spirit of the event, as written by Tim Metcalfe. While Michael Madsen, a solid actor, received more airtime and recognition than other actors for his role in '44 Minutes', I believe it turned out to be an excellent ensemble project. This was an inspired cast performing a docudrama that kept me on the edge of my seat as if I were a witness to the event in real time. In fact, viewing this again took me back, in a way, to September 11, 2001 at about 9 am when I turned on the television and saw what was happening in New York. I was glued to the tube, horrified, shaken, and just barely beginning to realize that life would never be the same. Of course I knew '44 Minutes' was a movie as I watched, but I was still sucked into the emotion, especially knowing it was based on fact. This is very well done and still worth seeing all these years later. '44 Minutes' is an Emmy winning movie worth having in your collection and sharing with friends and family over the years.

weedwhacker8 This is one of the most awesome movies I have ever seen. I loved it. My only problem with it was that it was way too biased in the favor of the police, painting the criminals as stupid robots, which they weren't. The movie makers really should have given the robbers, who are in essence the real stars of the movie, more detailed personalities. Other than that, it was an awesome action flick. Although the interviews were a bit annoying, and I'd rather they'd at least been interviews with those actually present at the gunfight, instead of the actors.All in all, I'd recommend it to anyone, pro-cop or anti-cop. 44 Minutes is a great movie, and I feel that it's second only to the movie "Heat".

rcslyman Plays off as a "day in the life of" at first, which was a pretty good move, I thought. Kind of "Cops"ish, with periodic interjections from the officers involved in the shootout, which does well to give the viewer the mindset of the people. I had a problem with some of the scenes of the two gunmen alone, making comments back and forth, which we don't really know what they were thinking, or saying, since it isn't like they are available anymore to tell us. But, dramatic license and all, it's hardly anything that Fox can't be forgiven for doing. They did an exceptional job with the firefight. You really get a sense of the sheer chaos that was happening then. The freeze frame cuts for commercial breaks were a nice touch as well, giving you a snapshot of the moment, which as I understand, happens in the mind of people in these types of situations sometimes.The movie was credible, and nicely done. You don't get the full effect by just watching the action in the last hour. The narrations given, and the scenes from the first hour, help set the tone for what started out as an average work day in Los Angeles, but then sank an entire area into a heated war zone before lunchtime had even come around. Wouldn't have been one I'd have paid money to see, but for a made-for-TV-movie, I've seen a whole lot worse, but more importantly, not many better.