Never Die Alone
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 26, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
9
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
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. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
There's something refreshing about a pulp drama that turns on the notion that redemption is a sucker's fantasy. That knowledge may not have saved Goines, but it informs Dickerson's adaptation and results in stellar neo-noir. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
An electrifying modern-dress noir, directed by Ernest Dickerson with a tough, terse, unapologetically brutal attitude that evokes the heyday of Sam Fuller and Robert Aldrich. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
That the film finds its own groove is due largely to the eye of director Ernest Dickerson. Not surprisingly, he began his career as a cinematographer, working on Spike Lee’s early films. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Primarily a riveting genre film that neatly exhibits the director's growing assurance -- Donald Goines would be proud. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Almost everything that frames the drug dealer's tale is facile and second-rate. Simply put, you don't believe it. What you do believe is DMX's cruel charisma. Read full review
60
VarietyDavid Rooney
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. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The script is tight and well-constructed, director Ernest Dickerson has a feel for film-noir aesthetics, DMX exudes a certain brutish charisma and the movie is as morbidly compelling as a good train wreck. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
In the hands of a more nuanced actor, David could have been a riveting character; but DMX's limited range means it's never clear why such a remorseless thug was seeking "redemption" in the first place. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
The film has a gritty, grainy look that matches the book's raw texture, and keeps the violence and drug abuse from ever looking slick or appealing. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
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. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This throwback to the outmoded blaxploitation genre is skillfully filmed by Dickerson, but has little else to offer besides cheap, violent thrills. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Pulpy, fairly speedy but just the same old urban thing by its wrap-up. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Invites us to both hate King David and admire his style, and there will probably be some hand-wringing about that. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
DMX delivers a surprisingly solid and convincing performance, but he's easily overshadowed by the very talented Ealy, who makes his secondary character truly memorable. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
What Never Die Alone is is a hackneyed tale of vengeance set in the 'hood, teeming with stock characters, slo-mo gunplay, and rampant misogyny. Read full review
38
New York PostJonathan Foreman
What dooms Never Die Alone even as amoral pulp entertainment is the screenplay by neophyte James Gibson, which combines clichéd characters and a contrived plot with stale dialogue. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Played by DMX in a gravel-pit monotone and a near-total lack of affect, King David cuts an unremittingly tedious swath through Never Die Alone. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Though steeped in both subgenres, Never Die Alone subverts that vicarious enjoyment by showing violence and abuse so unrelentingly ugly that only a sadist could derive the least bit of pleasure from it. Read full review
25
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Does David Arquette have a career? If so, what's he doing in this unintentionally hilarious gangster movie? Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Most of the film simply wallows in gangsta hyperbole - it's all bling bling, bang bang. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Ironically, the only good thing about Never Die Alone is its rap-retro soundtrack (God bless Curtis Mayfield!). Otherwise the film is so full of crap they should name a Port-a-San after it. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Alas, this is just film ugly. Read full review
20
Washington PostRichard Harrington
A bumbling adaptation of the same-titled novel by Donald Goines. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Bloody gangsta crap. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Possibly the worst thug-life flick to be released in the past 72 hours, this movie sags under the weight of the bling-bling cliches strung around its headless neck. Read full review
12
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Racist, misogynistic and breath­takingly cynical, Ernest Dickerson's clichéd crime drama Never Die Alone shamelessly exploits the degrada­tion of its irredeemable characters. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
If Never Die Alone had even a smidgeon of comic relief (or even, say, a bunch of zombies) to offset some of its relentlessly downbeat brutality, it might have been at best tolerable. But it doesn't, and it's not. Read full review
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