Shootdown - Abbattuto

The movie took too long to set up the characters in the begin, all of whom were poorly acted. The story was not worked enough, and many interesting theories that could have been looked at were left out. Some of the sounds, in particular the radio message and the firing of the missile most definitely came from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The movie did have a valid social outlook, suggesting that the U.S. government quite often has not-so-innocent motives to classify and stonewall events, in the name of 'national security', that should be made public knowledge. Otherwise the movie was quite poor overall, my vote being a three out of ten.

The only reason I ever watched this movie was because Angela Lansbury portrays the main character. I agree with a lot of what's been said so far, too. The movie wasn't a particularly grabbing movie, and it really depressed me with unanswered questions. Ms. Lansbury was brilliant, as usual, and I thought the actors did a great job with their characters, even if there wasn't much to work with. I've seen worse movies, and I've seen better movies. This movie would be worth watching at least once if you're an Angela Lansbury fan. If for nothing else to see how well she plays emotional scenes that she didn't really get to do in Murder, She Wrote. But, like I said, that's really the only reason I watched it, and I haven't watched it since, so apparently even Angela Lansbury, wonderful as she is, wasn't enough to make me want to watch it again.

This movie was obviously made to compel viewers to search for the truth to the event, and this it achieves by showing the viewer exactly why the truth needs to be found. It attempts to present the human side of the tragedy, and compels you to feel sympathy for the victims. This it does, but that is all. Nan Moore is the main character, and she is played by Angela Lansbury in a remotely realistic, and occasionally believable way. In the first hour, this is because of her over acting, but in the end because of the script. The last two scenes, which are meant to provide a strong anti-war theme, sounds so pathetic that I was compelled to laugh as Nan Moore preached about how we as a race must strive to achieve peace and to stop shooting down aircraft over eachothers territory. because of this, the solemn message is lost, and the climax of the whole long, boring film is rendered pointless by the shocking way it is done. Over-all, the movie is not worth seeing under any circumstances- not for entertainment, not for information, and not for drama.

Having read several books on this subject (Shootdown of Korean Air Lines flight 007) I have to admit that the facts and points about this sad story extremely accurate. I was surprised to see some comments about this movie stating that the facts cannot be true. All those believing that should pick up a book on the topic from your local library, read it and then judge the facts. I have to admit that since the movie was made (1988) there were several key facts revealed that do not match the movie (example: the name of the Soviet pilot that shot it down), but keeping in mind that the movie is over 16 years old, I have to say that the facts presented in the movie are as close as you'd get back then (I will try and add some interesting facts about this to the "trivia" section).

On the other hand, the movie acting-wise and script-wise is poor. It is on a level of a network movie (just as this movie actually is), so my expectations before watching it were set lower than usual. But the movie raises interesting points on whether the US intelligence agencies had anything to do with this plane straying off course.

I suggest reading a book on this topic before watching the movie. It may be confusing to those exposed to the story for the first time.

I cried pretty much from start to finish on this one! which I didn't really expect to happen! it was certainly an intense, emotional experience for me! Angela Lansbury conveys very well the grief and heartache of a mother who has just lose her son so tragically! she had previously lost her other son to Cancer, but as she says in the film they knew what was coming with him, so there was time to prepare themselves, this tragedy was different! she has no body to bury! it's really a raw emotional feature guys! at least I thought so, we can argue what we want hear about conspiracy or what not, but this is a powerful film! showing footage from actual newsreels, add to the reality of the piece! sure it is a talky film! But it needs to me, I recommend 'Shootdown' it is probably the best performance Lansbury gave in a TV film during her run on 'Murder she wrote' so raw and emotional! must- see at least one!