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Movies / Upcoming / Never Die Alone
Never Die Alone

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Never Die Alone (2004)

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Reviews Counted:88

Fresh:23

Rotten:65

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: DMX's menacing charisma is put to good use in this stylish but hackneyed modern-day noir.

Runtime: 89 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

US Box Office: $5,531,230

Synopsis: Based on cult novelist Donald Goines’ novel of the same name, NEVER DIE ALONE is a richly literate film noir about King David (DMX), a hard-boiled, stylish criminal who returns to his hometown... Based on cult novelist Donald Goines’ novel of the same name, NEVER DIE ALONE is a richly literate film noir about King David (DMX), a hard-boiled, stylish criminal who returns to his hometown seeking redemption but finding only violent death. But he did not die alone...King David’s final moments are spent with Paul (David Arquette) an aspiring journalist who knew him just a few minutes but upon whose life he would forever have an impact. King David – half preacher, half Satan, and all street smarts – had recorded the story of his recent exploits on audiotape, leaving behind an often-poetic sermon on villainy and its consequences. The tapes reveal that the cycle of violence and retribution his actions have spawned has come back on him full circle, as he suspected it might all along... One of the most prolific and widely read black authors of his generation, Donald Goines wrote his first two books while incarcerated, and followed those with an astonishing 16 novels written from the time he was released from prison in 1970 until he was shot to death in 1974. The film is directed by Ernest Dickerson whose directorial debut was the 1992 drama JUICE, starring Omar Epps and the late Tupac Shakur. Previously Dickerson served as Director of Photography on seven of Spike Lee’s early films up to and including MALCOLM X. He has directed a number of feature and made-for-TV films from the recent horror movie BONES starring Snoop Dogg to the Peabody Award-winning Showtime movie "Strange Justice," based on the controversy surrounding Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas. Dickerson most recently directed the drama GOOD FENCES, starring Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg, which had its world premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. DMX is a top rap artist who has also found great success in the film business. He starred opposite Jet Li in CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE and also appeared in BELLY, ROMEO MUST DIE and EXIT WOUNDS, for which he received a Blockbuster Breakthrough Actor nomination. His first four albums debuted at number one and sold well over 22 million records in just four years. David Arquette starred in the box office smash hits SCREAM 1, 2 and 3, which won him the Blockbuster Favorite Actor Award in 1998. For his leading role in NEVER BEEN KISSED, he was awarded the 2000 Blockbuster Award for Favorite Supporting Actor. He recently drew acclaim for his portrayal of an inmate at Auschwitz II-Birkenau in Tim Blake Nelson’s drama THE GREY ZONE. -- © Fox Searchlight [More]

Starring: DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Reagan Preston-Gomez

Starring: DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Reagan Preston-Gomez, Clifton Powell

Director: Ernest R. Dickerson

Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
Screenwriter: James Gibson
Producer: Earl Simmons, Alessandro Camon
Composer: George Duke
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

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Reviews for Never Die Alone

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
04/02/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sure, the bends in logic are nutty, and some of the dialogue is so outrageously street that it's laughable, but the larger-than-life star works it with everything he's got. It's a decent deal.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
03/25/04
E! Online

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
03/26/04
Hollywood.com

King's funeral opens Never Die Alone, but his throbbing self-consciousness drives it.

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
03/26/04
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Nitrate Online

[A] gritty film noir [about] a sleazy drug pusher looking for redemption, but who – in classic noir fashion – learns that there is no escaping paying for one’s past sins.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
04/03/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

...the story is certainly a throwback to the films of the '70s.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
03/28/04
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

This gritty genre piece about four men whose paths intertwine largely overcomes key cast weaknesses to deliver a jazzy, darkly textured rendering of the ghetto pulp of late African-American ex-con author Donald Goines.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/29/04
David Rooney
David Rooney
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

DMX is the perfect actor for this stylized and often satisfying film adaptation of Donald Goines's novel.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
03/25/04
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ernest Dickerson's Goth-like vision of this troubling tale about the dark side of human nature encapsulates the film noir genre.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
03/26/04
Guylaine Cadorette
Guylaine Cadorette
Hollywood.com

Moody gangster-morality tale has an old-fashioned, mean-streets swagger and a charismatic lead in rapper DMX.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
03/25/04
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix

You'll need all the body armor you can muster for Ernest Dickerson's bruising film noir, which works up more momentum and urgency in any one of its 82 minutes than most crime dramas do in their entirety.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
03/25/04
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday

What starts as a routine pimp film segues into an exercise in intrigue, thanks to some snappy editing and savvy performances.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
03/23/04
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

This 'gangsta noir' is a worthy heir to both 'blaxploitation' and to the Warner Bros. gangster classics that linked economic hardship and the allure of crime...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
03/30/04
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Moral scolds will undoubtedly decry this as just another violent rap movie, but much like that Jesus flick they're all digging, this... shows the harsh consequences of sin

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
03/26/04
Luke Y. Thompson
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times

There's something refreshing about a pulp drama that turns on the notion that redemption is a sucker's fantasy.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
03/23/04
Mark Holcomb
Mark Holcomb
Village Voice

Never Die Alone discards logic and reason for a farcically overblown orgy of uninhibited sex, drugs and gaudy materialism.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
03/20/04
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

Working from a 1974 novel by Donald Goines, the director, Ernest Dickerson, proves he's the rare filmmaker who can show the attraction -- and degradation -- of the criminal life without exploiting it.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/25/04
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

The various stories are strong enough to compensate for any acting deficiencies.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
03/26/04
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star

DMX unleashes the focused, angry dominator routine that has always served as the selling point for his music.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
03/26/04
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Never Die Alone is [Dickerson's] best work to date, with the complexity of serious fiction and the nerve to start dark and stay dark, to follow the logic of its story right down to its inevitable end.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
03/26/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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