Clockers is the latest urban film drama from one of the decades most contemporary directors, Spike Lee. Production credits cite Lee along with celebrated film maker Martin Scorsese. Not to be misled, Clockers distinguishes itself as a Spike Lee joint from the very beginning, displaying a collection of pictures of brutally killed black men for the opening sequence.
The film is set in the projects of New York City, where crack dealers (clockers) man the park benches from dusk until dawn, supplying junkies with their fix. The major themes of Clockers deal with the economical pressures to become a clocker, and the consequences of that decision. The latter themes are illustrated through the incidents of the main character, Strike, brilliantly played by newcomer Mekhi Phifer. Unfortunately, the important themes in the film are often eclipsed by the plot, which resembles what one would expect to find in a best-selling mystery novel.
Strike is a clocker working for the devious supplier, Rodney Little. Little instructs Strike to kill another clocker who has been pocketing more than his share of the profits. Next thing you know, the embezzling crack dealer is lying on the ground in a pool of blood, shot four times. Who shot him? Was it Strike? Was it Victor, Strike's straight older brother? Was it a "friend" that Strike and Victor hired? (Sound familiar?) Enter homicide detective Rocco Klein, a curious character who seems to be "good cop" and "bad cop" combined into one persona. Klein is played by Hollywood veteran Harvey Keitel, one of the best in the business. No stranger to playing the malignant detective (The Bad Lieutenant, Rising Sun), it is not a surprise that Keitel is at his best when playing the role of bad cop in this film.
Klein takes it upon himself to solve the mystery of the murder. He doesn't believe a word of Victor's voluntary confession, rather believing that he is covering for Strike. Klein then sets his sights on bringing Strike down. A series of spectacular, volatile dialogues between Klein and Strike ensue. Unfortunately, much of the content of these dialogues seem contradictory when the real murderer is revealed. The audience finds itself asking, "Why did Strike lie about that, if that person was the killer?" The plot twists are played up too much. The film would have been more effective had it focused more on theme, as did Lee's Do The Right Thing. One of the more endearing aspects of Clockers is Lee's directing style, especially effective in the scene where Klein and his fellow detectives are examining the corpse of the dead clocker. Also, Lee uses creative editing in many of the exceptional flashback sequences to produce distorted, expressionistic images.
Spike Lee has already established himself as one of the best directors of the nineties, now all he has to do is let his creative techniques come to the forefront, and let go of excess plot. Though Clockers won't be in the running for the Best Picture Oscar, it is certainly a movie that is more than worthwhile to see. Try to catch it while it's still on the big screen.