Malcolm X Reviews
Top Critic
Spike Lee has made a disappointingly conventional and sluggish film in Malcolm X.
Benefits from a lively lead performance by the miscast Denzel Washington but doesn't come within light years of the book, one of the greatest American autobiographies.
Lee and company have performed a powerful service: they have brought Malcolm X very much to life again, both as man and myth.
Lee sketches Malcolm's life colorfully, if by the numbers. But he falls victim to the danger of movie biography: he elevates Malcolm's importance until the vital historical context is obscured.
It plays surprisingly safe as a solidly crafted trawl through the didactic/hagiographic conventions of the mainstream biopic.
An ambitious, tough, seriously considered biographical film that, with honor, eludes easy characterization.
A spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
Lee has chosen a big subject and, with his quirky talent, has done it superb justice.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
This is an extraordinary life, and Spike Lee has told it in an extraordinary film.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
