excellent

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2002)

Denzel Washington gives a tour De force performance as Malcolm X and the best parts of the movie are when he is preaching to the masses. The worst part of the movie though is Spike Lee's character, a fictional guy named "Shorty." Lee's role seems to be mainly for comic relief but this movie didn't need it. Lee has rightfully complained about stereotype depictions of blacks in cinema and then turns around and plays the only stereotype black character in his definitive movie about one of America's greatest black leaders?
For a movie that addresses racism, there isn't a single white character in this movie who has any redeeming features. Could you make a movie nowadays in which every single minority character is a terrible person?