Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Joshua Benhaggai I saw the real news footage at the time this all happened and i can tell you that this movie in my opinion is a waste of time. A complete senseless drama with over dramatized acting. One word about this movie that keeps coming to mind is STUPID. To sum up this version of the story as it is portrayed in this movie: think of Days of our lives on steroids, and that's it. That's what this is. What i still can not believe is that 100 LA cops and not a single one can or even thought of shooting at the head or legs till the very end. Even then our swat team hero who was late ("I'm 10 min out"-"There in 2 min"-"I'm on the scene") and went on about being a hero and how he came to be a hero and what it's like to be a hero didn't really do much to the last single bank robber who was down to his handgun because his AK-47 got jammed. Another word just come to mind: PATHETIC. I hate this movie.

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.

Jan Strydom After watching the film then doing the research of what really happened, I didn't know what was more unbelievable the film or the raw footage on you tube, even though the film doesn't stick to all of the facts I still couldn't believe that two guys caused that much chaos.The film seen as it is is actually pretty good but I think after seeing some of the raw footage this film would've been a lot better if it stayed closer to the facts in order to add to the realism, but like I said the overall film isn't bad at all, the performances were great all around, Micheal Madsen's character was likable especially over what he does at the beginning of the film.Personally I liked the film but would've honestly proffered a different take on the subject matter, at least this film doesn't glorify the robbers by portraying them as the victim.

rixrex You know you've got a well-directed film when Michael Madsen turns in a well-done low-key performance, relatively speaking.Also fine performances from all others, especially Andrew Bryniarski as the tall bank robber. Very nice lead-in to the actual robbery to give us some of the character of the main subjects involved, and the lack of the LAPD to handle such a dangerous situation.It's still amazing that nobody but the bank robbers died in this 44 minute shoot-out. I recall seeing the live news reports and thinking that several cops and bystanders must have been killed.You will not be disappointed.