Malcolm X 1992

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: 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. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Read more

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

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is an extraordinary life, and Spike Lee has told it in an extraordinary film. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: 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. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: It plays surprisingly safe as a solidly crafted trawl through the didactic/hagiographic conventions of the mainstream biopic. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Spike Lee has made a disappointingly conventional and sluggish film in Malcolm X. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Lee has chosen a big subject and, with his quirky talent, has done it superb justice. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: A spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film. Read more