I caught Fahrenheit 9/11 at a midnight screening this Wednesday, and was hoping to blog about it shortly and happily thereafter. Surprisingly, I've found that I don't have much to say. It's a very, very good movie, but not quite the masterpiece that I'd been hoping for. Cinematically, this may be the weakest of Moore's films: as a movie largely culled from public footage, with the intention of hammering home a political message, it doesn't have the organic excitement that can occasionally elevate a great documentary to the level of art. There's nothing quite as good as the "Pets or Meat" sequence in Roger and Me, or the haunting moment in Bowling for Columbine where a security consultant, briefly used as a figure of fun, suddenly brims with tears at the memory of the Columbine massace.

As far as the movie's message goes, it appears that recent events have forced it to evolve away from its original intention, which was to focus on the ties between the Bush and Bin Laden families. This is a good thing. In fact, I wish that Moore had been a little more aggressive with his editor's knife, and cut away most of the House of Saud stuff, none of which is especially new or convincing. As it stands, the first half hour of the movie, which focuses on the Bin Laden material, isn't all that good: Moore doesn't tie his vague conspiratorial rumblings into much of an argument, and the result makes him sound more paranoid than he actually is. I'm especially worried that this lukewarm first act will turn off much of his potential audience, because the last hour of this movie, which focuses on soldiers on the front lines and their families at home, should be seen by everyone in America.

We’re living in a golden age of documentaries, as witnessed by such recent films as Crumb, Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, Bowling for Columbine, Spellbound, My Architect, and my favorite movie so far this year, The Five Obstructions. Fahrenheit 9/11 falls a few notches below the bar established by these amazing movies, but there are still plenty of moments here to sting and enrage, and to leave you wrung out, happy, and determined never to be fooled again.