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Malcolm X
Warner Bros.


9.2

based on 9 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: PG-13

Starring Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman Jr., Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee, and Theresa Randle

Spike Lee directs Denzel Washington in the role of African-American leader Malcolm X in this epic biographical drama.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Arnold Perl Spike Lee Alex Haley and Malcolm X (book The Autobiography of Malcom X)
DIRECTED BY:	Spike Lee
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 18, 2000 Video: July 21, 1993 Theatrical: November 18, 1992
RUNNING TIME:	194 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, Best Actor (Washington), 65th Academy Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New York Times Vincent Canby

Mr. Lee means for Malcolm X to be an epic, and it is in its concerns and its physical scope. In Denzel Washington it also has a fine actor who does for Malcolm X what Ben Kingsley did for “Gandhi.” [18 November 1992]

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film is inspirational and educational - and it is also entertaining, as movies must be before they can be anything else.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

A spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Lee's finest, most unabashed labor of love.

TV Guide Staff(not credited)

Lee's biography of the slain civil rights leader treats Malcolm, not as a political rallying point, but as a fully rounded individual whose life defies reduction to symbolic status.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A mortal movie about an immortal subject and the very fact that it succeeds as well as it does is a testament to Lee's skills as a filmmaker.

Variety Staff(not credited)

The picture comes up short in several departments, notably in pacing and in giving a strong sense of why this man became such a legend.

The New Yorker Terrence Rafferty

The movie is disappointingly impersonal; it doesn't provide readers of the autobiography anything like a fresh vision of its remarkable subject.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Lee has tried hard to give this shapeless picture some visual patterning though the cluttered effect created by his mistrust of silence is even more harmful than in the past.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Marko gave it a10:
Denzel Washington 'became' Malcolm X. It is still eerie and brilliant today. The film gives rare insight into Malcolm's 'anger' and life in America in the 40's-60's.

Seamus S. gave it a7:
Compelling and mostly entertaining. A good job.

Akhil K. gave it a10:
Wow! What can i say? Amazing? Excellent? Invigorating? No amount of adjectives are enough to appreciate this movie. So inspirational and so entertaining and yet i am dissapointed that it got pretty underrated reviews, not to mention not one oscar! (cmon, Denzel should have won) A must see in every sense of that term.

Kevin S. gave it a 10:
This film was necessary for our nation's film history. It was a colorful illustration of the life of Malcolm X not just in the media but behind the scenes. Spike Lee's colaboration with Denzel Washington to make the movie was not only a smart movie move but also a smart political move as an actor with Denzel's capicity was necessary to acurately depict Malcolm X with all the white hot fires of ambition and greatness flowing through his veins. I give it a 10 because it is, simply, the greatest film ever made about Malcolm X. Great show! An epic for the ages!

Masum M. gave it a 10:
A great and inspiring movie that may as well change your life.

Jamal K. gave it a 10:
This movie was hot.

Ericca P. gave it a 10:
GREAT!!!! GREAT!!!!! LOVED IT.

Malcolm X Warner Bros.

Malcolm X
Warner Bros.