The Hurricane is a heavyweight tale fighting to get out of a bantamweight film.
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01/01/00
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The Hurricane (1999)
83
%
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Reviews Counted:111
Fresh:92
Rotten:19
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Critics praise Denzel Washington's performance and find The Hurricane to be a powerful and moving story.
Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: In June 1966, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (Denzel Washington) was a strong contender for the middleweight boxing title. When three people were murdered in a New Jersey bar, Carter's dreams were... [More]
Starring: Denzel Washington, Dan Hedaya, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger
Director: Norman Jewison
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Reviews for The Hurricane
Though it's fascinating to watch Washington every second he's on the screen, when it comes to The Hurricane, he's already been there, and done that.
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Washington elevates the earnest, occasionally simplistic narrative to the level of a genuinely touching moral expose.
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Top CriticThe film wants to be about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity, and Washington almost pulls that off by himself.
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There must be more to this story than is in the movie. Maybe it's just a commercial for the book. Wait till it gets on video.
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It wasn't long before I got tired of hearing the Hurricane's exceedingly deep meditations on his condition. I wanted something to happen.
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Denzel Washington [gives] a riveting performance that overshadows a murky interpretation of the story that plays loose with the facts of the case.
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The story, which is fairly faithfully told, is an engrossing one.
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Yes, it's clichéd inspiration (which is inspiration nevertheless), but it does it from the heart, and that's what counts.
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Despite its faults, which also include some unrealistic boxing footage, this portrait of social injustice is sure to start you thinking and keep you talking.
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Jewison brings little imagination to his dramatization, turning the story into a disappointingly straight bad cop-good victim yarn.
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Just as 'Hurricane' himself championed over oppressive forces, so too does his legend transcend a sloppy telling, and remain one worth knowing.
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Washington hits all the notes perfectly.
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Beautifully crafted and uplifting.
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Top CriticWithout Denzel Washington, The Hurricane would just be another contrived prison-drama, whether or not it actually happened.
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Washington can bank on an Oscar nomination for the most forceful work of his career.
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Top CriticAs the Hurricane, Denzel Washington blows away everyone else in this film -- and just about everyone else in any film in recent memory.
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Its celebration of a spirit that refused to go down for the count is the important thing here, and Washington gets it shiningly right.
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Top CriticIt's a measure of Washington's strengths that he swims while the film sinks.
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Top CriticToo often The Hurricane falls prey to creeping Hollywoodisms.
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