Clockers Critic Reviews

A work of staggering intelligence and emotional force -- a mosaic of broken dreams.Read the full review

As always, Lee fills his story with bold, vivid, glib characters who manage to be entertaining even as they flail at one another.Read the full review

Although Clockers is... a murder mystery, in solving its murder, it doesn't even begin to find a solution to the system that led to the murder. That is the point.Read the full review

Clockers, Lee's eighth feature in nine years, demonstrates how accomplished a filmmaker he has become, securely in control of plot, actors and imagery.Read the full review

Clockers has the strengths of Lee's best work (passion, humor, terrific acting) without the preachiness, self-importance and gimmicky camera moves of his weakest.Read the full review

Ultimately, Clockers probably attempts too much, and ends up seeming overcrowded as a result.Read the full review

Beyond its grit and nonchalance, this story has a resigned, reflective, hard-earned wisdom that's unusual in an American film about such familiarly lurid subject matter. It's even more unusual in a film by Spike Lee.Read the full review

Lee captures the despair, self-delusion, occasional terror and frequent humor of a praised and popular novel, aided by the potent acting his direction virtually guarantees. [13 Sep 1995, p.01.D]Read the full review

The central story itself is not distinctive, and though Lee certainly churns up a lot of dust, he never captures the mythic quality that made Price's original seem so much bigger than its almost generic cast of players.Read the full review