X
- 1995
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 8 m
- 1995
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 8 m
Summary A "clocker" is a 24-hour drug dealer, and Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is the hardest-working one on the streets. But for Strike, time is running out. When the local drug kingpin (Delroy Lindo) tips Strike off about an opportunity for advancement, a rival dealer ends up dead, and Strike suddenly finds himself caught between two homicide detecti...
Written By: Richard Price
- 1995
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 8 m
- 1995
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 8 m
Clockers
71
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary A "clocker" is a 24-hour drug dealer, and Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is the hardest-working one on the streets. But for Strike, time is running out. When the local drug kingpin (Delroy Lindo) tips Strike off about an opportunity for advancement, a rival dealer ends up dead, and Strike suddenly finds himself caught between two homicide detecti...
Written By: Richard Price
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
71
70% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
30% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
71
70% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
30% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
A work of staggering intelligence and emotional force -- a mosaic of broken dreams.
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.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 24 User Ratings
6.7
58% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
38% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
4% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 24 User Ratings
6.7
58% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
38% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
4% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Clockers is, without a doubt, the most underrated movie of all time. One of the few instances where the movie is just as good as the book, if not better. The movie is as perfect as a movie can be; not a bad line to be found, characters perfectly cast and 100% believable (I think I've seen a million kids like Scientific since I became a journalist in Baltimore), and a deep, thought provoking message. It's a movie that should be seen by every aspiring director, every inner city kid of promise, every inner city politician and homicide detective, and every citizen who is unaware of the problems that people like Strike, Tyrone, and Victor face every day. It is a documentary masquerading as a murder mystery, and because of that, I applaud Misters Price and Lee on this masterpiece of cinema and storytelling.
Report
Spike Lee is an unfortunate instance of a very talented filmmaker who's obvious talent in craftsmanship doesn't come across in contemporary mainstream cinema because of issues having nothing to do with cinema itself. I realize that in becoming great at anything in one's life, other things have to suffer, and with him it seems, at least to me, that for everything he has undoubtedly accomplished in the filmic realm, it's created a type of 'idiot savant' (it's simply an existing term--I certainly don't mean it pejoratively)--that is, in social skills, at least pertaining to self-marketing, or getting across one's persona in the field, he is lacking--and it negatively impacts his cinema. And that's a dirty rotten shame, because this was a fine film.
He and his excellent approach to cinema remind me of the Heisenberg principle and make me: a) wish Lee could find more happiness in his life, so that he can come across better, and thus have his personality not negatively influence cinephiles like me; and b) wonder, like in 'A Beautiful Mind', if he was happier and more pleasant, if it would negatively impact his filmmaking?
'Clockers' worked for me. Keitel was really on a roll when he worked in this, with 'Bad Lieutenant', 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Smoke' all around this time. It was certainly a great vintage for him, and a fine time to sample his acting.
Report
Clockers, Lee's eighth feature in nine years, demonstrates how accomplished a filmmaker he has become, securely in control of plot, actors and imagery.
Ultimately, Clockers probably attempts too much, and ends up seeming overcrowded as a result.
Spike Lee's adaptation of a solid, if overpraised, crime novel by Richard Price is slickly made and well acted. But with most of the novel's subplots stripped away, it emerges as just another polemic about the scourge of drugs in the African-American community.
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.
Lee seems to think that all his major characters are basically good people who deserve another chance, and so for the sake of an inappropriate happy ending, everyone important gets one.
Thought this movie would've been better. Pretty boring not much action or anything to keep you interested.
Report
Overall, Clockers is quite the disappointing film. The acting from Mekhi Phifer, John Turturro, and Harvey Keitel is good, as well as some good supporting players here make this a very good look at life in the projects, murder, and drugs. The message about black-on-black violence is also very poignant and hard hitting. However, Spike Lee just cannot help himself and his racism here, as every single non-black character is the most racist pig ever to hit the planet Earth. I get it, cops in the projects are racist, but he hits us over the sledgehammer with it repeatedly as if we are some kind of idiot who does not get it. On top of that, many elements of the plot do not stick together very well and there are some plotholes for sure, as well as some things that are added in for really no reason, and things that are just very much unlikely to ever happen in real life. Minus the forced commentary on racism, some iffy plot elements, and Spike Lee's direction of those elements, Clockers is an interesting drama that could have been so much more with a different director.
Report
Awards
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
• 2 Nominations
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Grammy Awards
• 1 Nomination