The Hurricane (1999)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 113
Fresh: 94 | Rotten: 19
Thanks in large part to one of Denzel Washington's most powerful on-screen performances, The Hurricane is a moving, inspirational sports drama, even if it takes few risks in telling its story.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 3
Thanks in large part to one of Denzel Washington's most powerful on-screen performances, The Hurricane is a moving, inspirational sports drama, even if it takes few risks in telling its story.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 53,906
My Rating
Movie Info
In 1966, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a top-ranked middleweight boxer whom many fight fans expected to become world champion. When three people were shot to death in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey, Carter and his friend John Artis, driving home from another club in Paterson, were stopped and questioned by police. Although the police asserted that Carter and Artis "were never suspects," a man named Alfred Bello, himself a suspect in the killings, claimed that Carter and Artis were present at the
Watch It Now
Cast
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Denzel Washington
Rubin "Hurricane" Carte... -
Vicellous Reon Shannon
Lesra Martin -
Deborah Kara Unger
Lisa -
Liev Schreiber
Sam -
John Hannah
Terry -
Dan Hedaya
Della Pesca -
Debbi Morgan
Mae Thelma Carter -
Clancy Brown
Lt. Jimmy Williams -
David Paymer
Myron Bedlock -
Harris Yulin
Leon Friedman -
Rod Steiger
Judge Sarokin -
Garland Whitt
John Artis -
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All Critics (114) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (96) | Rotten (21) | DVD (18)
Facile and unpersuasive.
Top CriticThe movie's dogged humorlessness, and its sixties-style cant, don't do justice to all the political crosscurrents in this story.
A reminder that there's still a lot to be said for the good old-fashioned inspirational Hollywood movie.
Give director Norman Jewison credit for two things: 1) He made the movie; 2) He let Washington run away with it.
Jewison has delivered another excellent film.
The Hurricane has real mythic power.
Denzel dazzles in biopic of imprisoned boxer.
The film, directed by Norman Jewison, feels a bit too simple for such a complex story, but Washington transcends the problems to provide his best acting since Malcolm X.
There's no denying it's powerful stuff, which, for want of a better phrase, really packs a punch.
Startlingly inept coming from a generally accomplished director like Norman Jewison.
There is a talented supporting cast, but they are not given much opportunity to break out of the two-dimensional symbolism they are cloaked with in the script by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon.
The film has genuine impact, and I'm betting that leading and supporting Oscar nominations will follow.
A thoughtful, moving story, and a triumph for Jewison, Washington, and Carter himself.
The drama is hung on a vendetta between a flawed-but-honourable man and a doggedly bad cop. Yes, it's Valjean and Javert, together again.
A great showcase for the actor's skills.
Some stories are so good that even a Hollywood screenwriter can't ruin them. The Hurricane is one of them.
As the center of the drama, Mr. Washington more than fills the screen; he very nearly sets it on fire.
...straightforward, human drama that conveys a strong dose of excitement, heartache, and inspiration.
Crusty old Canadian liberal Norman Jewison has airbrushed Carter of his foibles and turned him into that hoary racial stereotype, the saintly martyred black man.
Audience Reviews for The Hurricane
Super Reviewer
Now that's the disclaimer at the very outset of the movie. So take your pick for who's to be blamed for those having problems with fictionalization of true events here. Whatever manipulations and distortions are carried out are probably done taking into account the well-being of the movie makers and its viewers in 'general'. Overall, I was fine with it although I felt that they should have been a bit more specific about certain things when the movie ended. The movie wasn't appropriately edited and could have used some more trimming. Over dramatization was another problem that irritated me. But all in all, it's a watchable fare with regular performances.
Super Reviewer
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- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter: I'll always be the Hurricane and the Hurricane is beautiful.
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- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter: I will bend time to my own clock. When the prison is awake, I will sleep. When they sleep, I will wake. I will live neither in their cell, nor in my own heart, only in my mind and my spirit.
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- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter: You're in my seat, country.
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- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter: [to Lesra] Hate put me in prison. Love's gonna bust me out.
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Foreign Titles
- Hurricane Carter (FR)
