Review of Clockers (1995) by Michael O — 03 Jun 2010

It's a mess about a mess about a mess in all the right ways. Great tragedy can't reveal itself without having a tangled web to climb out of. 'Clockers' is the real deal about life in the projects though not right off the bat. To me it seems like Spike found himself a bit lost figuring out if this was a story about heroes or villians, about life on the streets, or a hollering message.

As soon as the film starts he's throwing in a giant mechanical whale sign outside of a joint called 'Ahab's' and mixing up 90s pop tunes with Scorsese-like moments of grit and violence (in a really odd way) and switching the tone as it fit his stylistic mindset as opposed to fitting the story. Until about halfway through I think he figured it out because from that point on I was wrapped in the film's world. It wasn't the Richard Price story that Scorsese handed off anymore, no, instead it was a personal, colorful, powerful Spike Lee joint.

The story and its revelations are the kind of thing I recommend you figure out as you go along when you see the movie. So all I can say is that everyone in the flick is on fire and that the relationships that are explored in the movie are completely unforgettable and enlightening. This film is too much a bucking bronco to be called a masterpiece but it certainly is something wild.