--- title: "Clockers: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/clockers/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/clockers" critics_score: 70 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Clockers (1995): what the critics said Critics' score 70 from 14 reviews: 11 positive, 2 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics take to Clockers, and they praise the same things. Nearly all read it as a mournful sociological study rather than a conventional crime thriller, and several credit it with deglamorising the drug trade where other films prettified it. The performances draw consistent approval, Mekhi Phifer, Delroy Lindo and Harvey Keitel most often, and Malik Hassan Sayeed’s cinematography is singled out again and again: high-contrast, sweaty, muted in colour, with mixed film stocks that some find bold and others overstyled. The reservations are scattered. A few find the dialogue and score heavy, or feel the film comes apart as a thriller even while it holds as a portrait. The Independent notes an imbalance after Lee’s rewrite of Price’s script and misses the director’s usual anger. The spread is narrow, with most reviews landing between good and very good; the lone dissenter is Variety, which calls the film pretentious and thinks Lee’s editorialising undercuts its insider feel. ## Slant Magazine — Jaime N. Christley Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 7 February 2020. The review praises Clockers as one of the best filmed-on-location New York crime movies, highlighting its nuanced, ambivalent portrayal of pressures on characters in the projects and its bold stylistic flourishes like mixed film stocks and a powerful centerpiece sequence. It commends the Blu-ray transfer for preserving the film's tricky aesthetic while noting the director's complex view of policing and justice. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/clockers-blu-ray-review-spike-lee/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1995. Ebert finds the film a thoughtful exploration of black-on-black crime and the drug trade's toll rather than a despairing shriek. He singles out the way Lee and Price illuminate characters' lives through the murder mystery. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/clockers-1995) ## The AV Club — Jesse Hassenger Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 12 June 2015. The critic views Clockers as a gripping, mournful sociological case study and morality play about limited choices in a Brooklyn neighborhood, rather than a straightforward crime drama. They single out the strong performances (especially from Mekhi Phifer, Delroy Lindo, and Harvey Keitel) and the high-contrast hyperreal cinematography for praise, while noting the heavy dialogue and score as minor drawbacks. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/spike-lee-enters-the-inner-city-crime-genre-with-clocke-1798280631) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1995. Turan calls it a disturbing portrait of a cold, pitiless world and praises Lee's accomplished control of plot, actors and imagery. He singles out the fierce frontal attacks on drugs and shootings that have lasting impact. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-13-ca-45221-story.html) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1995. Maslin praises the film's mournful, epic vision that rises above its grim setting and its hard-earned wisdom. She highlights the effective collaboration between Price and Lee despite their stylistic differences. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/13/movies/film-review-in-a-hell-of-drugs-and-despair.html) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 11 September 1995. Lane welcomes Lee's return to exploring the streets with solid, ambitious material that gathers reports from the front line. He notes the film's skill in creating profitable confusion around its clouded murder mystery. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/09/18/cracking-up) ## Time Out — TCh Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The film follows a young crack dealer in Brooklyn and the detectives investigating a murder in his community. Lee adapts the source novel with a more restrained, meditative style than his earlier work, using chiaroscuro lighting and vérité touches while making his distaste for gun culture clear; the performances are singled out as superb. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/clockers) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). In a ranking of Spike Lee films, Clockers is described as compelling and mournful despite coming apart at the seams as both a crime drama and thriller; the critic singles out its ambitious desire to make viewers hear and understand, along with the striking opening credit sequence of crime scene photos. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/best-spike-lee-movies.html) ## The Independent Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 11 February 1996. The critic views Clockers as a murkier, more real-world departure from Lee's earlier dialectical style, praising its raw visuals, complex portrayal of black lives in the projects, and the nuanced depiction of the drug trade's allure and destruction. They note an imbalance after Lee's script rewrite and a loss of the director's signature fire and rage. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/film-spike-up-to-a-point-1318389.html) ## Empire — Angie Errigo Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic calls it average but enjoyable Lee, finding it not his finest yet intriguing for its community diversity beyond the drug world and the meaningful interrogation sequences that elevate the atmospheric style. They note the familiar clocking and menace elements but highlight the unanswered questions it raises. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/clockers-review/) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Rating **. 4 September 1995. McCarthy describes it as a gritty and pretentious modern morality play that is sometimes brutal but more often sad and mournful. He notes the insider's feel undercut by the filmmaker's editorializing impulse. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/clockers-1200443084/) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating B+. 10 August 2012. The film deglamorizes the drug trade in a thriller/police procedural style rather than prettifying thug life. Its standout element is the sweaty, rusty cinematography by Malik Hassan Sayeed that elevates the drama and character work despite some unevenness and overstylization. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/films-of-spike-lee-essentials-retrospective-20120810/3/) ## Collider — Thomas Butt Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 March 2025. The critic calls Clockers an overlooked gem and a soulful crime drama that remixes Scorsese-style underworld stories with Lee's own heightened, operatic style. They single out its austere examination of morally conflicted Black characters and themes of redemption amid the drug trade. [Read the review](https://collider.com/clockers-spike-lee-martin-scorsese/) ## Paste — Oktay Ege Kozak Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 19 June 2025. The critic ranks Clockers highly among Lee's films and praises it for rebutting glamorized 'hood movies' with a bleak, raw portrait of survival in the drug trade. They single out its depressing muted color scheme and claustrophobic cinematography that match the desperate narrative. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/spike-lee/every-spike-lee-movie-ranked) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/clockers.md