Clockers

Clockers of Spike Lee is an example of what pure film-making can be. Here complex characters, more multiplied in complexity by the society they live in, portray an astonishing performance. Brutally honest and viscerally raw.Harvey Keitel produces another stellar performance along with the characters of Strike, Rodney et al.Beautiful cinematography that blends in with the theme of the film,makes a even more enjoyable experience.Even if you don't know about racism and violence, you will love this.

Really fascinating blend of heavily Scorsese-esque aesthetics and the classic Spike Lee portrayal of a broken yet intimate inner city.

What's with these middling and mediocre reviews?! This is another awesome Spike Lee joint that (after a wobbly first 20 or so minutes) demands your attention with a high proficiency in acting and directing, which suits these very real and very colourful characters who aren't merely painted as black or white. The twists amidst this whodunit (with a ghetto pulse) aren't too bad, though it's the likes of Phifer, Keitel, and Lee's uncompromising and earnest viewpoint that make this a special watch.

Comparisons to The Wire have become routine, but no TV show I've seen is as blatantly cinematic as Clockers, which presents the hood in a fairly unique way as an expressionistic playground, like a ghetto picture story book brought to gritty tragic life. Lee's approach to narrative construction was loosening at this point, and Clockers' plot initially appears wandering and aimless, but gradually the threads connect, and the result is a flawed yet despairing look at lives lost before they begin.

I started watching only knowing that this was a big influence on The Wire and it shows. Not particularly impressed with many of the performances, it's the intertwining plots and the tragic chain of events created by one shooting that kept me compelled. Music choices and some dialogue were a bit heavy handed but for a prototype of works like The Wire it's good for what it is. Some neat camera tricks and brilliant use of color. It's a very vibrant looking picture, in contrast with the grim plot.

Decent film, but having already seen all five seasons of the Wire, this kind of pales in comparison. Harvey Keitel does a nice job of bringing something new to the done-to-death hardboiled cop role, and the film deserves credit for genuinely good mystery writing which is neither overly obvious nor overly convoluted.

Sloppy and inconsistent, but compelling and marked with a stamp of Spike Lee's indelible style. If there's one thing Lee knows how to do really well, it's how to balance a diverse cast of characters against a vivid urban sprawl, and that's in full display here. Fans of his movies, and of urban dramas, will appreciate this; those otherwise inclined may find something worth liking as well.

I like the last 40 minutes a lot and the beginning is good too. It should be better but sucks in the middle - bad directing maybe? Spike Lee has done better.

Very good.

I don't know about this one. It felt a lot like first season Wire stuff, but extremely inconsistent.

It was like A 2-hour "The Wire-New York Special", but I shouldn't forget that it was before that. I really like how Spike Lee lay the structure of his stories and this one is a very good example. Overall great acting and great music; the only thing that held it back is inconsistent pacing.

It's good, but it takes a bit too long to get going. And I didn't like the lead actor.

yoo-hoo

Not bad, but Mekhi Phifer is not very good and it becomes especially obvious when he's up against an actor like Harvey Keitel (Who's excellent). This could be the script's fault, because everything Mekhi says sounds like it was ripped from the Enter the Wu-Tang skits and it gets tiresome. Interesting cinematography.

Funny how many of the people who worked on this went on to work on The Wire, which retroactively made most of the '90s Ghetto Hollywood pictures look like princess fairy tales. Still, Lee makes it work it spite of his style not really matching the material, Blanchard's typically dreadful music, and Phifer's pretty one-note and uncharismatic performance. Some really great scenes help balance out some of the more cringe-worthy stuff.

Like many point out, The Wire will do this better in the future, but this came first and it switches between a set of characters in that traditional Spike Lee way that gives the setting a real vibrant sense of life. Like Do the Right Thing, it makes plenty of points without being obvious, but just by trying to create scenes with a real sense of life, and like his first classic, purposely addresses many problems without trying to provide answers because maybe there just are none at this point.

Ending salvages this, Spike Lee's melodramatic tendencies near topple into didactic PSA territory with the convoluted mess of events here but maybe pin that on the source material, Spike is never really subtle but usually far more able to cultivate a world/microcosm of culture, the way every character exists in service of one protagonist's plight doesn't play to that strength and lays on the resulting tale very thick, even if there's hard truths and a fittingly frigid visual style at the core.

With a script this solid and a cast this good, Clockers could have been great. It's mostly engaging, but it's so overcooked that it's difficult to enjoy. The cinematography is jarringly noticeable, the soundtrack is relentless and intrusive, and the performances are all too on-the-nose.

A Greatest Hits compilation of all things Spike Lee. You get his commentary on urban living, his love of New Hollywood, his take on then current events, an older generation telling teenagers how to live, tense Italian/African-American relations & a dolly shot. The Richard Price novel source material elevates everything--in turn providing fantastic performances from Keitel and Lindo. An added bonus is to see how this film provided inspiration for the tv show The Wire. Highly recommended.

73.500

Very slow to start. Effective story, but the style doesn't really fit with the realistic subject matter and script.

Spike swings for the fences and still manages to find sympathy in the most hostile situations.

Most of the problems you might have with Spike Lee as a director are present and correct, and the opening credits are probably more affecting than anything that's to follow, yet this is still a fairly well-presented and enjoyable film with a solid cast.

Middling gangsters-in-the-projects tale. It feels like a little late and doesn't bring much new to the table, but it's still watchable without any major missteps. I didn't feel like I cared as much about Strike as Lee wanted me to... a lot of mystery is built up over whether or not he's the one who shot Daryl, but does it really matter? The guy sells drugs, and as we're constantly reminded throughout the film, that's being a death dealer anyway. Also, dolly shot AGAIN.

Bit of a mess, but compelling for some reason.

It's overlong, and the acting is mediocre overall, especially the lead performance by Phifer. It has some good flourishes, and a poetic sensibility. It just didn't fully connect with me, and this type of story has been better told.

A few staples of Lee's direction hold this picture back (like heavy-handed writing and music), but in spite of this, he also continues to show himself as a compelling storyteller with this layered and visually distinctive show.

The Wire does it better, but must gives its dues to the film that inspired it. Keitel and the supporting cast are great while Phifer just isn't all that believable as the train-loving-gangster. Speaking of gangster, is Seal really that hard? Terrible soundtrack.