Film

U2 Rattle and Hum (1988)

Director: Phil Joanou

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Joanou perpetuates the image of U2 as Eastwood-style Men with No Name: dressed like extras from a spaghetti Western, in interview they fumble over answers with brows furrowed as if words can't express their depth of feeling. The implication is that U2's music speaks for them. A shame, then, they don't get down to it earlier. U2's place as rock regents is emphasised by a visit to Graceland, with drummer Larry Mullen contemplating Elvis's grave, and by a wonderful moment in which singer Bono shows BB King how to play a U2 song. A gospel version of 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' provides a rare glimpse of the band's feeling for their craft, but for the most part the documentary footage is unsatisfactory, saying nothing new about the men behind the myth. The live footage, shot at one of the later American 'Joshua Tree' concerts, is another matter. Seamlessly edited, the camera entirely unobtrusive, and the sound impeccably produced by Jimmy Iovine, this gives you a front row seat at a textbook stadium show. Bono's visionary poetic preaching, which takes in a little Irish/American history and a brave tirade against the IRA's Enniskillen massacre before launching into the utterly inspired 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', is something you can stomach or not, but it won't leave you unmoved.

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