Camille B. 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!

THEOWLCAVE I love this film, and have for years. Some were unhappy with the lack of documentary-like footage concerning who the band "really" are and such...but since it is described as a "concert" film, i got what i expected...footage of and about the formation of key songs and song adaptions. I never saw the film as self-congratulatory, and i think that's just a swipe by bashers of the band.......they (u2) just seemed to be enjoying themselves delving into the new musical forms they were discovering and paying homage to those forms. If you like music, see this dvd.

G-Com The Irish band originally wanted a small, self-financed documentary of their landmark 1987 tour behind their outstanding Joshua Tree album and the songs they wrote and recorded after the tour. But, things got slightly out of hand as that small documentary turned into the idea of it being a full-blown concert film. Paramount came on board as a partner when the costs got out of hand.Directed by Phil Joanou, Rattle and Hum's black and white documentary footage is slightly grainy, while a bulk of the concert footage (from their Denver shows at McNichols Arena) was filmed in high conrast black and white. But, the footage dramatically morphs into the glorious color footage from tour's last two shows at Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium.The "musical journey" focuses primarily on songs from U2's War, The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree albums, and a behind the scenes look at the band recording material that showed up on the "Rattle and Hum" album from an abandoned train house in Dublin, Sun Studios in Memphis, and a black church in Harlem to rehearse and record a gospel version of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" with the church's choir, who joined them later for the band's Madison Square Garden show.The major complaints of the film that I've heard seem to be that it's moody and over-dramatic at times, but I think that Joanou wanted it to be that way intentionally, but the humor is pretty much limited to the documentary portions.Of course, the music is the most important thing. I'm normally not a fan of "artsy" films, but the artsy-looking shots of Bono walking across the stage at the top of U2 classics "With or Without You" (the best live version of the song I've ever heard) and "Where the Streets Have No Name" works well and sets the mood for the songs perfectly. Another high point, their incredible performance of a revamped "Sunday Bloody Sunday" the day after a bombing in Northern Ireland.It's a shame the film was panned. As it is, Rattle and Hum ushered in an era where U2 took a huge financial hit by building complex stages and taking technology to overkill on tours supporting Achtung Baby and POP. U2 bassist Adam Clayton calls the film a mistake, but I disagree. The film is awesome and a must have for any music fan.My only real complaint: Why didn't the U2 include the awsome live version of "One Tree Hill?" I saw it on their Greatest Video Hits package and fell in love with the song.

Daniel Marrin I knew little about U2 in the 80s. I was still a pre-teen, and I was probably listening to what my parents put on like Michael Jackson, Joe Cocker, John Denver, Janis Joplin, and Willie Nelson. However, little by little, I grew to be a fan of theirs, probably especially after I first heard the song "Bad" on the radio as my parents drove me to college for my first year. I bought the DVD of this on a total whim and was greatly rewarded. The opening sequence with "Helter Skelter" establishes a somewhat otherworldly yet gritty intensity for the b&w sequences. I agree that the film doesn't do a good job of getting at the personalities of the singers, and besides these guys are so used to the camera that they'd be able to manipulate the coverage anyway. What Phil Joanou does get wonderfully is the passion for the music in these guys and how they inspire others: those moments when they stop and listen to the Harlem blues man singing "Freedom for My People" or the Gospel choir that takes flight with "Haven't Found what I'm Looking For" are something pure with a hint of magic. This is also well-played in the GORGEOUS transition to color in the Super Bowl-size stadium for "Streets Have No Name." You'd think Jesus himself was about to come on stage. My only qualm: the music and lyrics themselves have enough social meaning of their own. Bono really doesn't need to interject much more on stage. Their performance of Bullet the Blue Sky gets at the social points with greater force, "Pelting the women and children/Pelting the women and children," than Bono's well-intentioned commentary. I give it four stars though because it hits all the right notes. PHIL, WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN YEARS?