44 Minutes - The North Hollywood Shoot-Out on DVD (2003)

A customer from Coventry , 11/01/2007

I seen this movie a while ago, it is a great account of the infamous North Hollywood shootout.

great shootout scenes (nearly as good as the one from heat)

If you like shoot um ups then this is for you.

action all the way through

  11 out of 12 people found this review helpful

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Deenesh Revis from Orkeny, Scotland , 22/02/2007

this is a fairly accurate account of the notorious events the title is based on. I've seen the real minute by minute documentary on it and the film is pretty factually accurate. There are little bits missed out and added of course for the purpose of helping the drama, action and entertainment. All in all a good watch, but it helps if you know the background to the actual events.

  10 out of 11 people found this review helpful

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Mezza from Glasgow [Highly rated reviewer] , 25/07/2008

This movie has that “Made for TV” look about it. Based around the notorious robbery of The Bank of America in North Hollywood, it has so much potential but the way it has been made goes about relating the story all wrong.

Michael Madsen sends yet another performance in by post. It’s not that he gives a bad show, it’s just that his acting style seems very smarmy and contrived to me, as were the characters sub plots (if they can be called plots) which are heavily laced with pointless sentimentality.

This movie is really just a love letter to how pure, brave and courageous the officers involved that day were. That’s all it tries to do, that’s the only place the story wants to go, and it left me feeling like: what was the point?

Telling the story from the LAPD POV was the wrong way to go for me. This Movie would have been infinitely more satisfying if it was told from the POV of the Robbers. That would have given the movie depth and the staying power it so sadly lacks. I understand that the police involved that day went way beyond the call of duty. I get that. But this is a movie at the end of the day, and the fact is that the police characters are bland and uninteresting as screen creations. To explore the relationship between the robbers and what was driving them would have been a far more interesting character study for me personally and it has been completely ignored here.

There is one saving grace, however. The actual shoot-out in question is impressive. It is well shot and edited and gets across the velocity of the firepower that the police were up against that day. I read some reviews saying that the shoot-out is just as impressive as the one from Heat. It comes no where close in my book. Not even in the same league as the shoot-out from heat. So with that said, is a good shoot-out sequence enough reason to rent this movie? I would have to say no. I’m sure you could just find the shoot-out on u-tube and save yourself the bother of sitting through those sentimental story fillers. Not worth the bother!

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful

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A customer from London, England , 29/05/2007

This is the WORST thriller-come-shoot-'em-up film I've ever had the misfortune to have to sit through. I would rather shoot my own limbs off than condemn my worst enemy to have to see it. (Except Colette Hume)

  4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

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