Spikeopath Clockers is directed by Spike Lee who also co-adapts the screenplay with Richard Price from Price's own novel of the same name. It stars Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, Mekhi Phifer, Isaiah Washington, Keith David, Peewee Love and Regina Taylor. Music is scored by Terence Blanchard and cinematography by Malik Hassan Sayeed.Young drug pushers in the projects of Brooklyn (Clockers) are caught between loyalty to their drug boss and the detectives out to stop them.It's not as incendiary as one might expect of a Spike Lee joint, but the director's concerns and astute knack for story telling are very prominent features. It was originally going to be a Martin Scorses film, but he chose to make Casino instead, he does, however, get a producing credit and you can see in the material why Scorsese was interested in directing. Pic is basically a take on urban drug dealing in the Brooklyn projects and the impact said dealing has on anyone who comes into contact with it. From the downward spiral of life for young men earning their pay by illegal means, to fretful mothers desperately trying to keep pe-teen kiddies from joining the ranks of what they think are cool operators, the morality of the play is forcibly rammed home by Lee. Unfortunately this comes at a cost to the white cop characters, who are too thinly drawn to offer up a law and order counter point to the illegal activity involving drugs and murder, they serve only as the "man", and damn the "man" at that. The Rocco Klein (Keitel) of the book is not evident here, sadly, while Torturo may as well not be in it! Cast performances are well in tune with the material, with Lindo as the "black godfather" turning in a scary one, and Lee's camera-work, coupled with Sayeed's moody photography, has a nifty grasp of realism. Soundtracking is soulful and pleasant.A mixed bag for sure, but it's a story that needs to be told. Bleak and brutal at times, but still offering hope, it's middle tier Spike Lee that always remains intriguing. Even if it at times feels like he was bored telling yet another "black on black is bad" message movie. 7/10

Robert J. Maxwell In this complicated tale of the pressures on Mekhi Phifer in the Brooklyn projects, director Spike Lee captures the values and the iconography of the African-American community well, as he usually does. You get a genuine sense of the simmering anger, the shifting allegiances, and the small reward system of the social world these pathetic people live in.Pfifer is the central figure and he sweats a lot. No brighter or better than he should be, he's pressured from one side into dealing cocaine by local mogul Delroy Lindo. On the other side, he's pushed by the manipulative but well-intentioned detectives Harvey Keitel and Stanley Turturro. Pfifer's handsome and upright brother is under arrest for murder but Keitel believes that Pfifer is the culprit. Pfifer's brother is simply too good, too compliant, to have done the deed.Nice ambiguity. Lee convincingly nails the diversity and solidarity of the community. It's like John Ford in the ghetto. Pfifer may be innocent of the crime of which Keitel is convinced he's guilty but he also deals dope. Keitel, for all his ploying the system, is determined to bring the guilty party to justice, though he may play a little dirty in getting the job done. And when he finds out that he's been wrong about who committed the murder, he does what such a person would do in real life. He hides his guilt behind a tirade of threats.In a way, it's an improvement over Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing." It doesn't turn all the cops into heavies. And it doesn't end with an ominous quote from Malcolm X.The weakness of the film lies in Lee's allowing conversations to go on for too long. Pfifer gets a lot of screen time and when he's not chewing out his young brother (who will save his life) he's whining about his innocence. The exchanges, sometimes rising to shouts, go on too long and become tiring.It's a devalued life these people lead. They wear clothes and they groom themselves in ways that appeal only to those in their immediate and limited social worlds. I'm beginning to develop an idea. The more you resemble someone who is upper class and British, the more your social worth. The farther removed you are from this model, the lower your status. If you could take Pfifer, dress him in riding clothes and teach him to play polo, and have him say "eck-tually" instead of "aks," and have him grow some hair on his shaved and shiny skull, he might not be thought guilty of anything except being too polite.

gveltman1 Although I have only seen a few of Spike Lee's films, I am already beginning to place him very low on the ladder of the best directors alive today. Clockers fails, in my opinion, because the film's premise is lacking substance to begin with; the story is lackluster to the max. On top of this, where the film had its opportunities to reel in the audience emotionally, it instead dropped the ball. Moments where energy, tension, and suspense were supposed to effused were disappointingly overridden with anticlimactic slumps in action. The choking scene in the car as well as when Mekhi is being beat up in the park, with their odd selection of music, seem unfulfilled in their potential to capitalize on emotional appeal.I will say the denouement is shot with expert precision. Lee's patented cinematographic maneuver, the double dolly, is on full display. Moreover, his use of low-key lighting in some specific scenes that illustrate the proliferation of drugs inside the projects are done in a professionally haunting manor. Unfortunately, these instances are rare, overshadowed by the weak portions previously discussed.With regards to Lee's film style in Clockers, I like to point out two of his techniques that I find terribly annoying: 1) Those stupid circling gliding shots around characters when they are talking. 2) His persistent use of intense music to compliment serious(at least Lee thinks they must be) scenes. When put together, these two devices serve to create the ultimate exaggeration of the weight a scene carries in this film. Doing a flashy gliding pan across the park accompanied by pounding sound while Tyrone's mother yells at Mekhi and his boys about his haircut is a little excessive. Instead, I think Clocker's would benefit from a greater variation in the levels of stress and emotion we experience in each scene. This way, when the film actually does come to a TRULY significant moment, the audience will become more invested in the action.P.S. I don't think anyone from the projects would actually where a complete Arizona wildcats uniform. Just the jersey, not the shorts.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) Take a murder mystery story, mix it into a contemporary vulgar urban setting, then sprinkle some racial tension into the mix and you've got the highly intellectual and intense Spike Lee film Clockers. Clockers is about Strike, a young black man living in Brooklyn, dealing drugs for his ruthless drug lord Rodney Little. Strike deals drugs for the money, but all he really wants to do is hang out with his brothers in the park and play with model train sets. But things start to get rough when a night manager at a local fast food joint is murdered and Strike's brother Victor turns himself in. Det. Rocco Klein is the lead detective on the case and he doesn't buy Victor's story, which sets him on an obsessive hunt to unmask the truth behind this whole ordeal. The film is loaded with spirited yet vulgar dialouge, artistic and vibrant direction, and plenty of memorable characters. Clockers is witty, intelligent, and a lot of fun. It isn't your typical murder mystery or racial tension film. It is a beautiful blend of the two genres that turns into something very unique and very exciting.Spike Lee adds a lot of visual flair to this film and the way he directs it is something you can't quite pinpoint. The panoramic visual style is something you can't exactly describe in words and it is really something you have to see for yourself. There is something obviously unique going on in the way Lee directs this film, it is just difficult to articulate what exactly that is. But the visuals do work in a whole plethora of unique films, allowing the film to succeed on multiple levels. The film ranges from intense and gripping to quirky and fun. From one scene to the next the film grows more fun and more enthralling. Rarely do I care this much about what happens to the characters of a film and I'm not always so compelled to learn the motivations of the very well written characters of a film.All that being said I can't say that I loved the main character, Strike. The actor, Mekhi Phifer, wasn't great and the character himself had some odd moments. I eventually learned to like him and his character thankfully didn't deter too much from my liking of the film. Besides, a lot of the film actually focuses on Harvey Keitel's character and his unending search for the truth behind the murder. There are also numerous subplots that all end up being more interesting than the main character's story. It helps that this is just an all around well written film that is just smarter than your average crime film.Clockers is very different from any murder mystery crime film, as well as any racial tension film. But it provides plenty of great work on both sides of this spectrum. Spike Lee has created a visually interesting film with a fantastic story. The main character is the only low point of the film, but everything else is very good. Clockers is a very worthwhile watch for fans of Spike Lee or the multiple genres this film spans.