The Hurricane

R

Released Jan 14, 2000

2 hr. 26 min.

Drama

List

83%

115 Reviews

Tomatometer

87%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Denzel Washington is Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a man whose dreams of winning the middleweight boxing title were destroyed when he was arrested along with another man for the murders of 3 people in a New Jersey bar. Wrongfully accused, Carter and John Artis were sentenced to 3 life terms in prison.

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Critics Consensus

Thanks in large part to one of Denzel Washington's most powerful on-screen performances, The Hurricane is a moving, inspirational sports drama, even if it takes few risks in telling its story.

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K B

Simply beautiful, warming, frustrating, and immaculate.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/16/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Fighting for the right to live The performance by Denzel Washington in this Spike Lee movie was very effective, despite expectations. The horrors of the reality that this is based on a true story are troubling, but the story and plot deliver us through the telling of a story about the problems of society and the need to remain strong through the roughest of them. I saw this movie while I was expelled from my high school for a fistfight which happened in the hallway. It taught me a lot about life at the time, and Denzel's performance is great. The soundtrack is amazing as well, and a lot of people pooled together to tell this true story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Denzels best performance of all time and one of the best Biopic's ever made, very powerful. I would say this, also, to be director Norman Jewison's best film

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

dave s

By no stretch of the imagination is Norman Jewison's The Hurricane a perfect movie. For one, the secondary characters all seem a bit shallow. What made Detective Della Pesca (Dan Hedaya) the hateful and vindictive man that he was? Who exactly are these three Canadians who came to the rescue of Ruben Carter and what the hell is their relationship to each other? Another problem is an abundance of stilted dialogue that manages to suck the energy out of a lot of the scenes. However, the story itself is fascinating and Denzel Washington gives a powerful performance as the wrongly convicted ‘Hurricane' Carter. Washington's performance alone makes The Hurricane worth watching.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

As a film “The Hurricane” is affecting enough, but despite Carter’s innocence in the crime that put him in prison, the filmmakers ignore Carter’s violent incidents while on bail and present invented persecutions from fictional characters. The film would have been interesting enough if done honestly.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/12/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Uplifting story of US boxer falsely imprisoned for a murder. Washington is superb in the lead as Ruben Carter.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/06/21

Full Review

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Norman Jewison

Director

Denzel Washington

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

Vicellous Reon Shannon

Lesra Martin

Deborah Kara Unger

Lisa Peters

Liev Schreiber

Sam Chaiton

John Hannah

Terry Swinton

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Denzel dazzles in biopic of imprisoned boxer.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 24, 2010

Full Review

Time Out

Facile and unpersuasive.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Peter Rainer

New York Magazine/Vulture

The movie's dogged humorlessness, and its sixties-style cant, don't do justice to all the political crosscurrents in this story.

Aug 7, 2004

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... Jewison’s most passionate work in years; his indignation powers the film.

Mar 8, 2024

Full Review

Chuck Klosterman

Akron Beacon Journal

There are a handful of scenes that Washington carries all by himself, but the rest of The Hurricane is an ill-constructed failure. It's slow and poorly written, and -- somehow -- it's a non-fiction story that often feels unrealistic

Rated: 2/4

Oct 27, 2023

Full Review

Tony Black

Cultural Conversation

A powerful case of injustice lacking punch.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 16, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Denzel Washington is Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a man whose dreams of winning the middleweight boxing title were destroyed when he was arrested along with another man for the murders of 3 people in a New Jersey bar. Wrongfully accused, Carter and John Artis were sentenced to 3 life terms in prison.

Director: Norman Jewison
Executive Producer: Marc Abraham, Irving Azoff, Thomas A. Bliss, Tom Rosenberg, Rudy Langlais, William Teitler
Screenwriter: Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Sam Chaiton, Terry Swinton, Armyan Bernstein, Dan Gordon
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Beacon Communications, Azoff Entertainment
Rating: R (Violence|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 14, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 12, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $50.7M
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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