71
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- As always, Lee fills his story with bold, vivid, glib characters who manage to be entertaining even as they flail at one another.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAlthough 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.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranClockers, Lee's eighth feature in nine years, demonstrates how accomplished a filmmaker he has become, securely in control of plot, actors and imagery.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovThis is the first Spike Lee Joint that feels more like a mainstream Hollywood cops-in-the-'hood picture and less like one of Lee's recurrent soapboxes.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliUltimately, Clockers probably attempts too much, and ends up seeming overcrowded as a result.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannSan Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannClockers has the strengths of Lee's best work (passion, humor, terrific acting) without the preachiness, self-importance and gimmicky camera moves of his weakest.
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinBeyond 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.
- 60Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonThe 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.
- 60Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThe performances are strong, but the spectator often feels adrift in an overly busy intrigue.
- 50San Francisco ExaminerBarbara ShulgasserSan Francisco ExaminerBarbara ShulgasserLee 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.