Clockers: Review By MutantFairy

The main character named "Strike" is so stressed out that he has an ulcer & is constantly drinking fake chocolate milk instead of Mylanta or Maalox or something. But his stress is a result of his own choices. We are supposed to feel sympathetic for this character because of the situation he is in but we can't, because he is a criminal. He is a drug dealer. He chooses to be a drug dealer even though he has other options. Throughout the movie we meet plenty of other residents from the same projects who are not criminals. We meet Andre who still lives in the projects but is a police officer, his brother Victor who in order to care for his wife & children, works two jobs and the bartender of the neighborhood bar. All these people who are productive members of society without breaking the law just prove that there is always a choice, another option.

Strike, despite his age is just a selfish kid trying to be a criminal. When the crime boss demonstrates just how unimportant Strike is, Strike passes the powerlessness down the chain, showing us the endless cycle of violence & crime that persists in the projects. But the movie does this the wrong way. Instead of showing us how Strike is affected by this realization we are shown Strike exerting his power over his underlings. It undermines the entire lesson that Strike was supposed to have learned.

There are other problems with this movie. There is a scene where we see the convoluted steps taken by the drug dealers to avoid getting caught but later on in the movie we see the same guys brazenly selling crack as though they were selling candy. The lighting in the police station interrogation room is washed out & harsh for no apparent reason. It doesn't signify anything; it isn't "truth lighting" or "fear lighting" just different lighting for no reason except to seem artistic. The movie tries to pull a twist ending but it is so forced that it doesn't make any sense. It's a terrible ending that is barely explained & highly unlikely. The music also detracts from the movie. We are presented with melancholy songs when the criminals are committing crimes. When the drug boss is trying to convince Strike to embrace being a worse type of criminal, the score that plays during the scene makes it seem as though his speech is profound & filled with truth. But it isn't, it's just a drug boss lying to a naive teenager.

The movie tries to present both sides of the law, but it is impossible to feel sympathy for a criminal like Strike despite his health issues, his hobby & his kindness towards a young boy. The movie would have been better if it had just taken a stand. Instead it just ends up a jumble of a movie that glorifies guns & criminals. This movie tries to send a message by showing us crime scene photos of young black men, their lives cut short by drug & gang violence during the opening credits but it is undermined by the actual movie where nobody is punished for their actions. Despite all the criminal actions, the drug selling & murders, everyone "gets away with it."