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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 rotten 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
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
06/14/04
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N/R

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/26/04
Boston Phoenix
N/R

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Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
03/26/04
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
03/27/04
Los Angeles Daily News

Purports to be literate film noir but comes off more like the overwritten project of a film school kid who just memorized his textbook on the style.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/25/04
Allison Benedikt
Allison Benedikt
Chicago Tribune

Although the flashbacks within flashbacks within some more flashbacks structure is overly convoluted, Dickerson's visual flair and Stephen Lovejoy's crisp editing actually make the story easy to follow, if not to believe.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
03/26/04
Angel Cohn
Angel Cohn
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A pimped-up facsimile of David Goines' novel. I can't think of a more apt description of this misogynist and deeply flawed film noir.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
03/29/04
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

Hampered by its convoluted plot and a marked melodramatic streak that counteracts the film's cool factor.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
04/03/04
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
04/24/04
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Instead of insight or character or milieu or anything else remotely worth exploring, we get bad attitude, lousy storytelling and abysmal performances.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
03/26/04
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Completely forgettable (at least, I'm trying to forget it).

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
03/26/04
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Ernest Dickerson's film recycles a cinematic standby -- it's narrated by a corpse, telling us how he got that way -- but the movie's scuzzy beauty keeps it intriguing.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/25/04
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Redemption eludes DMX's antihero in the soulless Never Die Alone

Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
03/26/04
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
Washington Times

It's too bad the filmmakers couldn't find a way to present [Goines's] vision without resorting to some pretty threadbare clichés.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
05/20/04
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

This is not a workable drama, just a series of ideas that rap stars who worship Scarface think would be cool to see.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/28/04
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

Never Die Alone makes each viewer die alone, but shared laughter with other customers may forge a death-pact bond.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
03/26/04
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

This throwback to the outmoded blaxploitation genre is skillfully filmed by Dickerson, but has little else to offer besides cheap, violent thrills.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
03/25/04
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

What makes Never Die Alone so monumentally terrible isn't just its bearhugging of gangsta flick convention, but its desperate attempt to imbue run-of-the-mill crime with noir classicism.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/26/04
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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