The movie starts feeling like an advertisement for something much better

Rating: 6/10 (24 June 2000)

Due to a script which tries far too hard to show how "naughty" the bad guys are, and how noble the good ones can be, "The Hurricane" is a film that never quite lives up to its potential. These characters are far too one-dimensional to be believable. The sinister villain of the film, a corrupt law enforcement official played by Dan Hedaya, is so abominable, I kept expecting a couple of horns to pop out of his skull, as he tilted his head back to let out a contemptible laugh. At the same time, Lesra Martin, and his group of Canadian merry men, are so virtuous, so totally pure, I wondered when woodland creatures would lovingly surround them, causing them to break into song. The only character in the film who seems to have any genuine moral conflict is Denzel Washington's Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It's a pity the screenwriter (Sam Chaiton) took such a black and white approach with his character depictions, because, without this misstep, "The Hurricane" would have had everything going for it.
The cast of The Hurricane is superb. The directing, by Norman Jewison ("Agnes of God", "Moonstruck"), keeps the two hour plus movie moving at a fast pace, and doesn't give us time to get bored. When it isn't annoying you with its simplistic character depictions, even the screenplay can be remarkably compelling.
I will recommend this movie, but with far less enthusiasm than I would have, if it had taken the time to make the true story it was based on seem a little more real. I cannot overlook the broad stokes "The Hurricane" ends up painting its characters with. The movie almost starts feeling like an advertisement for something much better . . . possibly the two books that it was based on.