Rattle & Hum is the only U2 album I really have mixed feelings about. It's the only album at the time I felt (and still do to an extent) that they weren't moving forward. And even though Bono claims different, the album does smack of U2 pretending to be the heirs to the throne. I hate to be critical of U2 because I love so much of their music, but some of the record does really seem a bit over the top. If you "don't believe in the 60's, the golden age of pop" why do you "glorify" it by doing versions of Dylan & Beatles songs? Why All Along the Watchtower, a song that every garage band covers, and probably does a better job of? Covers really weren't their strong point at this time. They did improve Watchtower greatly on the LT tour, but I think Everlasting Love or Dancing Barefoot would been better choices to put on the record. It just seems like a band as smart & adventurous as U2 is were a bit lost at the time. Stealing Helter Skelter back & calling a song God Part II...you can see how the critics were ready to pounce. I don't think the movie helped the situation. Even though I was in my teens at the time it came out, I thought the Film & Album were pretty bombastic. I'm sure a double album and major motion picture coming out so soon after the JT tour didn't help matters...
That said, most of the original material is great. Desire, All I Want Is You, LRM, Heartland, WLCTT, Angel Of Harlem....the roots rock tunes have a naive charm about them that sound better to me now than they did then. That's the great thing about CD's & DVD's, you can just skip to your favorite songs.
In a strange way, even though it's my least favorite U2 album, it's probably their most important, because without it, we never would have had Achtung Baby, Zoo TV and the groundbreaking experimental work to follow...some say too experimental, but I would take POP over R & H any day.