Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

grantss Good crime-drama, and even better social commentary. The crime aspect to the movie was very interesting. Even though you think you know what happened, nothing is revealed until the end, and there's a few surprises.However, it is the social side which is most impactful. It is a Spike Lee movie, so you expect an examination of race relations, and Lee does not disappoint. The dead-endedness of housing projects, the almost-inevitable turning to crime, the exploitation by the drug kingpins, the indifference (to a degree) by the (white) police. Yet, in spite of the bleakness that Lee paints, there is hope. It's not all doom-and-gloom.

ElMaruecan82 The title might give you a hint, "Clockers" is about routine, and not the most pleasant one.Indeed, this routine is made of drug-dealing and occasional murders. And if you think that you've been desensitized enough by police procedural and gangster movies, "Clockers" will be a powerful wake-up call. Honestly, I can't recall a film that dealt so straightforwardly with real-life violence apart from David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" but that was 10 years after ''Clockers".The opening credits set the tone. Shots of young black persons' murdered are shown, blood staining the pavement and deadpan expression proving they didn't see what was coming to them. Lee doesn't stylize for aesthetic purposes but intelligently guide our expectations, loudly shouting what gangster films timidly whispers: this is an ugly word with no redeeming appeal whatsoever. No matter what it involves, it either ends up with jail of being the unintentional poser of bloody aftermaths' pictures. And their purpose is echoed in the murder scene, where lies Darryl Adams, a restaurant manager, shot four times.The sight of the body is disturbing but no more than the total detachment of the two assigned detectives played by Harvey Keitel and John Turturro. They comment the body with shocking detachment and cynical wisecracks such as "the kid had brains" while blood spilled over a hole in his head… I don't think Lee's intent is to portray these cops as racist or cynical, but to underline how routinely these murders became. This is not to brandish the 'racism' flag (Lee is above these clichés) but to remind us that these crimes are committed within the black community. So, no matter what you'd think of the cops, they're not the ones who pulled the trigger.We're used of that ambiguity regarding racism and this is a credit to Spike Lee's co-writing with Richard Price, who wrote the original novel. "Clockers" depicts a slice of people's life that encapsulates all the factors that lead to the opening 'pictures'. And that no-way-out situation is embodied by the main protagonist, Strike (Mekhi Phifer), a clocker working for Rodney (Delroy Lindo), the crime lord of the neighborhood. His job mainly consists on standing in the park and waiting for customers coming to buy crack. The process is well-elaborated, as there is a watcher to check for cop's arrivals, but eventual strip-searches are also part of this routine.The point is that clockers are at the bottom of the hierarchy, but that's their way of living. The issue of money is another layer of subtlety the film provides. Strike doesn't use money to date girls, buy a car or new clothes. Electric trains are his hobbies. Why? Why not? But we understand that he's trapped in that job for the simple reason is that it earns him enough money to fulfill his passion. On the other hand, his brother Victor (Isaiah Washington) is a honest, two-job worker and decent father forced to constantly swallow the bitter taste of frustration while watching brothers making easy money while he gets no respect and that's his routine.These brothers live in a world where money buys enough power to ooze respect. Both feel pressure in their lives, and the result is Victor's arrest and confession that he murdered Adams, claiming it was for self-defense, but there's something wrong in that murder Keitel's character can't get off his head. The case is even more complex because it was Strike who was supposed to kill Adams, to make his bones with Rodney and climb the 'social ladder'. The seemingly fatherly affection between Rodney and Strike is finally distorted when Rodney reveals the first time he killed a man, threatened with a gun on his mouth by Errol (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) a tough killer before he became the local AIDS-stricken psycho.Like for Rodney, Strike had to have blood on his hands, the point of no-return meaning trust. So, we get it, there are no feelings in such a dirty business. And as the investigation proceeds, Keitel gets more and more interested in Strike's case and wonder why he'd let his brother covering him, and why would a man like Victor kill Adams in the first place? To spare Strike the burden of belonging to Rodney, and in the process, vent all his anger? The procedural leaves to a satisfying resolution but it wasn't "Clockers' main point. The film is more about complex human interactions, because while Keitel and Phifer get closer one another, their mutual affection feel more real and genuine than with Rodney, and might pave the road to Strike's redemption.I know this 'redemption' word is kind of hackneyed, but I know Scorsese co-produced the film, and I felt some intense Scorsesian vibes in that gritty depiction of an underworld and the torment poisoning the main character's life, in the real meaning of the world since Strike is also victim of chronicle ulcer that gets bloodier as the film progresses, like a metaphor of his moral downfall and an imminent deadly conclusion. But there's a third significant character to enrich the film: Tyrone, a kid who admires Strike and imitates him to the point of shaving his head and wearing the same clothes. The kid is a younger version of Strike with Strike playing Rodney's mentor role, and ironically, the disciple shows more zeal and competence than his master. Tyrone's arc is a light of hope illuminating possible ways out of the hell… given you don't act like people acted with you.Tyrone evolves from the embodiment of Strike's disgrace to his redemption. And Strike is given the same chance, the possibility to count on people who don't help him because they like him, but because they hate that world enough to triumph over it by getting someone out of it. Indeed, there might be a right way and a wrong way but when trapped in such blinding routine, everybody needs a sign, or guidance.

gveltman1 Although I have only seen a few of Spike Lee's films, I am already beginning to place him very low on the ladder of the best directors alive today. Clockers fails, in my opinion, because the film's premise is lacking substance to begin with; the story is lackluster to the max. On top of this, where the film had its opportunities to reel in the audience emotionally, it instead dropped the ball. Moments where energy, tension, and suspense were supposed to effused were disappointingly overridden with anticlimactic slumps in action. The choking scene in the car as well as when Mekhi is being beat up in the park, with their odd selection of music, seem unfulfilled in their potential to capitalize on emotional appeal.I will say the denouement is shot with expert precision. Lee's patented cinematographic maneuver, the double dolly, is on full display. Moreover, his use of low-key lighting in some specific scenes that illustrate the proliferation of drugs inside the projects are done in a professionally haunting manor. Unfortunately, these instances are rare, overshadowed by the weak portions previously discussed.With regards to Lee's film style in Clockers, I like to point out two of his techniques that I find terribly annoying: 1) Those stupid circling gliding shots around characters when they are talking. 2) His persistent use of intense music to compliment serious(at least Lee thinks they must be) scenes. When put together, these two devices serve to create the ultimate exaggeration of the weight a scene carries in this film. Doing a flashy gliding pan across the park accompanied by pounding sound while Tyrone's mother yells at Mekhi and his boys about his haircut is a little excessive. Instead, I think Clocker's would benefit from a greater variation in the levels of stress and emotion we experience in each scene. This way, when the film actually does come to a TRULY significant moment, the audience will become more invested in the action.P.S. I don't think anyone from the projects would actually where a complete Arizona wildcats uniform. Just the jersey, not the shorts.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) Take a murder mystery story, mix it into a contemporary vulgar urban setting, then sprinkle some racial tension into the mix and you've got the highly intellectual and intense Spike Lee film Clockers. Clockers is about Strike, a young black man living in Brooklyn, dealing drugs for his ruthless drug lord Rodney Little. Strike deals drugs for the money, but all he really wants to do is hang out with his brothers in the park and play with model train sets. But things start to get rough when a night manager at a local fast food joint is murdered and Strike's brother Victor turns himself in. Det. Rocco Klein is the lead detective on the case and he doesn't buy Victor's story, which sets him on an obsessive hunt to unmask the truth behind this whole ordeal. The film is loaded with spirited yet vulgar dialouge, artistic and vibrant direction, and plenty of memorable characters. Clockers is witty, intelligent, and a lot of fun. It isn't your typical murder mystery or racial tension film. It is a beautiful blend of the two genres that turns into something very unique and very exciting.Spike Lee adds a lot of visual flair to this film and the way he directs it is something you can't quite pinpoint. The panoramic visual style is something you can't exactly describe in words and it is really something you have to see for yourself. There is something obviously unique going on in the way Lee directs this film, it is just difficult to articulate what exactly that is. But the visuals do work in a whole plethora of unique films, allowing the film to succeed on multiple levels. The film ranges from intense and gripping to quirky and fun. From one scene to the next the film grows more fun and more enthralling. Rarely do I care this much about what happens to the characters of a film and I'm not always so compelled to learn the motivations of the very well written characters of a film.All that being said I can't say that I loved the main character, Strike. The actor, Mekhi Phifer, wasn't great and the character himself had some odd moments. I eventually learned to like him and his character thankfully didn't deter too much from my liking of the film. Besides, a lot of the film actually focuses on Harvey Keitel's character and his unending search for the truth behind the murder. There are also numerous subplots that all end up being more interesting than the main character's story. It helps that this is just an all around well written film that is just smarter than your average crime film.Clockers is very different from any murder mystery crime film, as well as any racial tension film. But it provides plenty of great work on both sides of this spectrum. Spike Lee has created a visually interesting film with a fantastic story. The main character is the only low point of the film, but everything else is very good. Clockers is a very worthwhile watch for fans of Spike Lee or the multiple genres this film spans.