Malcolm X: Critic Reviews

An ambitious, tough, seriously considered biographical film that, with honor, eludes easy characterization.

Lee has chosen a big subject and, with his quirky talent, has done it superb justice.

A spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film.

This is an extraordinary life, and Spike Lee has told it in an extraordinary film.

Benefits from a lively lead performance by the miscast Denzel Washington but doesn't come within light years of the book, one of the greatest American autobiographies.

Spike Lee has made a disappointingly conventional and sluggish film in Malcolm X.

Lee sketches Malcolm's life colorfully, if by the numbers. But he falls victim to the danger of movie biography: he elevates Malcolm's importance until the vital historical context is obscured.

The perfect combination of epic and personal, intimate and spectacular.

Insightful and well-rounded portrait of Malcolm X.

Lee's film suffers from message over substance and is slightly tedious as a result.

Lee and company have performed a powerful service: they have brought Malcolm X very much to life again, both as man and myth.

Visually and dramatically, Lee pulls out all the stops, but it's Washington's performance that really energizes the film, and he's an exhilarating presence throughout.

Lamoclm X may seem conventional by Spike Lee's standards, but as a biopic of a controversial historical figure, it's superior to the nobility of spirit of a movie like Gandhi, for example, and Attenborough's high-mindedness.

It plays surprisingly safe as a solidly crafted trawl through the didactic/hagiographic conventions of the mainstream biopic.

a thoughtful and insightful rendering that promises to educate generations about the real Malcolm X

In the leading man category, Denzel Washington in Malcolm X managed to deliver the best performance of the decade.

Malcolm X owes its success to a combination of things, not the least of which is Washington's performance.

Finds Lee's tendencies towards gadflyish social outrage folded into the fabric of the typically reactionary biopic genre.

Controversial, compelling story...Spike Lee in good form.

Denzel brings the legend to life.

richly layered