metalrox_2000 There is a line in the movie from a former FBI agent. He said "If Lennon had just kept his mouth shut, and made his music, there never would have been a problem." And there is the fundamental issue. Here was John Lennon, who had fame and fortune as a member of the Beatles. Does he continue to write disposable pop tunes, or does he use song to uncover some of the injustice in the world? Thankfully for us, he chose the later.John Lennon used his platform for the greatest good. He gave a voice to those who were shunned. He allowed Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers to have his say, and refute how the news media had portrayed him. Lennon was a man of peace, which made him a threat to men like Richard Nixon, who dedicated their lives to war.The film goes into great depth Lennon and his views, as well as the infamous fight by the Nixon Administration to deport Lennon as an "undesirable alien" simply because he spoke out. The film features interviews with both Yoko and the attorney who fought the deportation and won.The documentary focuses heavily on his activism, and reveals many details not generally known, even to the most hard core fans. The film makes great use of home movies and news clips as well.One of the strongest uses of news clips comes at the end. The public display that went on for John Lennon was unmatched by anyone up to or since then. The raw emotions of the fans gathered for the tribute to him was grim, it was real, and it brought home how beloved John Lennon was to a people tired of war.John Lennon isn't simply portrayed as a musician turned social activist. He's not portrayed as a superhero either. He's portrayed as a man who looked upon the world, and asked why. Why must there be so much death and destruction? And looking at the state of affairs in the world now, we really could use John Lennon.

brainwave-2 For how revolutionary the subject matter is, there's little revolutionary about this bland doc (except maybe the cool graphics). Revelations about Nixon and Hoover's attempt to deport Lennon are very interesting and are heightened by his lawyer's appealing interviews, but that takes up only about a half hour of the film. The first 45 minutes is setting up ground work: who John was and what was going on at the time. While this would probably be appealing for a teenager, for those of us who lived through the era it's pretty simple stuff. Once everything is wrapped up pretty nicely the last 20 minutes are spent on his death, without fully describing the details of it. The teenagers who were educated by the first forty minutes are then left feeling that his death had some connection to the persecutions he received in his life – I assume this is done to intensify their argument. When in reality, the tragedy of his death was exactly that it was for no reason at all. Just like in the 60s and 70s, Lennon is still being used as a puppet.

amadcow2 John was always my favorite of the Beatles. His lyrics always attempted to make complex issues easier to understand. He was also a true artist and one of those rare individuals that never rested on the familiar, but strove to explore the human situation. That's why Yoko was the perfect partner for him. She was and still is an artist that traveled the same wavelength as John. They were true soul mates and this film helps to reinforce that truth to the world.Today, we are faced with a political machine that perverts the media to twist the truth in such a way that it is indistinguishable from fiction (for more on this subject read Al Gore's latest book; The Assault on Reason). This movie does a very good job at showing the heavy handed genesis of how a dissenting opinion is viewed today.In today's American climate, the actions of John Lennon would have been discredited and actively smeared. That's not to say that the 'establishment' of the time didn't attempt to discredit and smear John's actions, but things have changed in today's climate. Basically, I see the biggest difference between the '70s and today is this; In the 70s, a peaceful message was hard to counter. Today, a peaceful message is vilified as being simplistic or unpatriotic or forwarding a 'liberal agenda'. In fact, this movie goes a long way to the unmasking of the fact that peace, love, and non-violence are at the core of most religious and spiritual philosophies. The movie highlights a truth espoused by many great individuals; that non-violent protest it the higher road to truly effective change, because violence will always be responded to with more violence.The US vs John Lennon is a wonderful documentary that gives us a window to our past and highlights a period in the life of a truly good man. John Lennon had his flaws, as all humans do, but he was an intelligent artist who had the foresight to use his celebrity status for a noble cause. We need more John Lennons in this world. We have too many celebrities that squander the public eye in a never ending cycle of rehab and tabloid sensationalism. At least when the Ono-Lennons took off their clothes, it was to make an artistic statement.I miss you John. Thank you Yoko for keeping his memory alive.

Brad Lacey Criticism of this film has focused on its refusal to be as political or revolutionary as Lennon himself - I don't think it's such a bad thing. Of course, not all films turn into Michael Moore-style propaganda pieces the minute they endorse a political viewpoint, but there are certain inevitable compromises that must be made (just as we see in Lennon's life, in fact - though here Lennon states that he considers himself an artist first and a politician second, the mere fact that it was necessary to make the distinction points to tension).In the end, The U.S. vs. John Lennon does what it needs to do. It sets out to tell the story of Lennon's post-Beatles activist life, and does it well enough. Yoko Ono's presence in the film could (and should) have been examined more critically, but this is a cursory complaint.Sharp, seamless editing of the mainly archival footage - interspersed with contemporary footage of interviews with some of Lennon's friends, acquaintances and (not enough) enemies helps propel the not particularly complicated narrative forward, but it's not dull.It's a pretty simple formula here: if you like Lennon or The Beatles, you'll probably like this. But you won't write home about it.