RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Never Die Alone
Never Die Alone

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Never Die Alone (2004)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
26 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:88

Fresh:23

Rotten:65

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: DMX's menacing charisma is put to good use in this stylish but hackneyed modern-day noir.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence, drug use, sexuality and language

Runtime: 89 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Mar 26, 2004 Wide

Box Office: $5,531,230

Synopsis: Based on cult novelist Donald Goines’ novel of the same name, NEVER DIE ALONE is a richly literate film noir about King David (DMX), a hard-boiled, stylish criminal who returns to his hometown... Based on cult novelist Donald Goines’ novel of the same name, NEVER DIE ALONE is a richly literate film noir about King David (DMX), a hard-boiled, stylish criminal who returns to his hometown seeking redemption but finding only violent death. But he did not die alone...King David’s final moments are spent with Paul (David Arquette) an aspiring journalist who knew him just a few minutes but upon whose life he would forever have an impact. King David – half preacher, half Satan, and all street smarts – had recorded the story of his recent exploits on audiotape, leaving behind an often-poetic sermon on villainy and its consequences. The tapes reveal that the cycle of violence and retribution his actions have spawned has come back on him full circle, as he suspected it might all along... One of the most prolific and widely read black authors of his generation, Donald Goines wrote his first two books while incarcerated, and followed those with an astonishing 16 novels written from the time he was released from prison in 1970 until he was shot to death in 1974. The film is directed by Ernest Dickerson whose directorial debut was the 1992 drama JUICE, starring Omar Epps and the late Tupac Shakur. Previously Dickerson served as Director of Photography on seven of Spike Lee’s early films up to and including MALCOLM X. He has directed a number of feature and made-for-TV films from the recent horror movie BONES starring Snoop Dogg to the Peabody Award-winning Showtime movie "Strange Justice," based on the controversy surrounding Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas. Dickerson most recently directed the drama GOOD FENCES, starring Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg, which had its world premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. DMX is a top rap artist who has also found great success in the film business. He starred opposite Jet Li in CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE and also appeared in BELLY, ROMEO MUST DIE and EXIT WOUNDS, for which he received a Blockbuster Breakthrough Actor nomination. His first four albums debuted at number one and sold well over 22 million records in just four years. David Arquette starred in the box office smash hits SCREAM 1, 2 and 3, which won him the Blockbuster Favorite Actor Award in 1998. For his leading role in NEVER BEEN KISSED, he was awarded the 2000 Blockbuster Award for Favorite Supporting Actor. He recently drew acclaim for his portrayal of an inmate at Auschwitz II-Birkenau in Tim Blake Nelson’s drama THE GREY ZONE. -- © Fox Searchlight [More]

Starring: DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Reagan Preston-Gomez

Starring: DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Reagan Preston-Gomez, Clifton Powell

Director: Ernest R. Dickerson

Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
Screenwriter: James Gibson
Producer: Earl Simmons, Alessandro Camon
Composer: George Duke
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Never Die Alone Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Jul 13, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Never Die Alone

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
06/14/04
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/26/04
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
03/26/04
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
03/27/04
Los Angeles Daily News

Purports to be literate film noir but comes off more like the overwritten project of a film school kid who just memorized his textbook on the style.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/25/04
Allison Benedikt
Allison Benedikt
Chicago Tribune

Although the flashbacks within flashbacks within some more flashbacks structure is overly convoluted, Dickerson's visual flair and Stephen Lovejoy's crisp editing actually make the story easy to follow, if not to believe.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
03/26/04
Angel Cohn
Angel Cohn
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A pimped-up facsimile of David Goines' novel. I can't think of a more apt description of this misogynist and deeply flawed film noir.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
03/29/04
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

Hampered by its convoluted plot and a marked melodramatic streak that counteracts the film's cool factor.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
04/03/04
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
04/24/04
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Instead of insight or character or milieu or anything else remotely worth exploring, we get bad attitude, lousy storytelling and abysmal performances.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
03/26/04
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Completely forgettable (at least, I'm trying to forget it).

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
03/26/04
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Ernest Dickerson's film recycles a cinematic standby -- it's narrated by a corpse, telling us how he got that way -- but the movie's scuzzy beauty keeps it intriguing.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/25/04
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Redemption eludes DMX's antihero in the soulless Never Die Alone

Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
03/26/04
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
Washington Times

It's too bad the filmmakers couldn't find a way to present [Goines's] vision without resorting to some pretty threadbare clichés.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
05/20/04
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

This is not a workable drama, just a series of ideas that rap stars who worship Scarface think would be cool to see.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/28/04
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

Never Die Alone makes each viewer die alone, but shared laughter with other customers may forge a death-pact bond.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
03/26/04
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

This throwback to the outmoded blaxploitation genre is skillfully filmed by Dickerson, but has little else to offer besides cheap, violent thrills.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
03/25/04
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

What makes Never Die Alone so monumentally terrible isn't just its bearhugging of gangsta flick convention, but its desperate attempt to imbue run-of-the-mill crime with noir classicism.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/26/04
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dickerson's seductive realization and DMX's chillingly detached performance give this subpar variation on culturally apocalyptic themes an amoral plausibility.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
03/25/04
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
77% 77% The Hangover
88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
66% 66% Public Enemies
24% 24% G-Force
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
82% 82% Paranormal Activity
58% 58% 9
44% 44% Jennifer's Body
58% 58% A Perfect Getaway

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

RT Editors' Picks

RT Editors' Picks

Which films of '09 were staff faves?

Awards Tour

Awards Tour

Stay up on the latest awards and noms!

Sex and The City 2

Sex and The City 2

Friendship, fashion, and fun in one trailer!

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

9 and Paranormal Activity!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • New Moon Tops Moviefone's 2009 List Source: Hollywood Reporter
10
  • Star Trek Tops 2009's Most-Pirated Movies List Source: Hollywood Reporter
17
  • Weekly Ketchup: Peter Jackson's Secret Sci-Fi Project
108
  • New Toy Story 3 Clip, Photos Posted Source: Slashfilm
26
  • Danny Trejo Talks Machete, Possible Sequels Source: Collider.com
14
  • It's Official: Jackass 3-D Coming in 2010 Source: Collider.com
16
  • Bryan Singer Returning to X-Men for First Class Source: Superhero Hype
102
  • Mark Strong Talks Kick-Ass, John Carter, and Robin Hood Source: Collider.com
1
  • How Avatar Happened: The Path to Innovation Source: CinemaBlend.com
19
  • Rob Marshall Says Pirates 4 Is Still a Maybe Source: ComingSoon.net
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Avatar, Sherlock, and Alvin Team Up To Break Records
268
  • RT's Best of the Decade!
175
  • RT Editors Choose Their Favorite Films of 2009!
70
  • Total Recall: Jude Law's Best Movies
60
  • Weekly Ketchup: Peter Jackson's Secret Sci-Fi Project
36
  • Critics Consensus: Sherlock Holmes Is Worth Investigating
33
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: 9 and Paranormal Activity
21
  • Friday Harvest: Sherlock Holmes, Toy Story 3, and more!
10
  • What We're Watching on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox!
0
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Five Favorite Films With Peter Jackson
72
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
24
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
16
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
24
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Never Die Alone at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Never Die Alone at IGN
  • Never Die Alone at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
Best Dozen of the Decade
Best Dozen of the Decade External Link

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

Top 50 of 2009
Top 50 of 2009 External Link

Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.

Santa's Naughty List
Santa's Naughty List External Link

Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.

Top 10 Movies of 2009
Top 10 Movies of 2009 External Link

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Top 20 of the Decade
Top 20 of the Decade External Link

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo
About Us | Advertise | Contact Us | Press | Careers
IGN | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | Direct2Drive | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Game Sites | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GIGA.DE | What They Play | Battlefield Heroes
By continuing past this page, and by your continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. | Support | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! RSS Feeds
IGN’s enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA.
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.