As noble as Lee’s effort might be in theory, no message, however important, can distract from the film’s desperation to be epic—a self-consciousness that results in a meandering, overstuffed, and poorly structured story.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 5, 2023

Spike Lee has created what may be his weakest film to date.

| Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 16, 2020

It's too long, and its worthy efforts at period authenticity are undermined by a shaggy script that spells out its message with all the subtlety of military propaganda.

| Dec 16, 2017

There's barely anything in Miracle that comes across as genuine.

| May 17, 2016

Lee clearly has magical realism, fable, and historical enormity on the brain, and even though he stuffs the film with everything but the proverbial kitchen sink, his ultimate point is anyone's guess

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 11, 2014

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

At 160 minutes, it definitely suffers from Oscar Bloat.

| Aug 15, 2011

Miracle makes a bid for epic status, but Lee throws in more elements - including murder mystery and supernatural fantasy - than the narrative can stand. The two big battle scenes are impressively staged, but the action in between sprawls and stumbles.

| Jun 27, 2011

| Original Score: D+ | May 6, 2011

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 4, 2011

Takes too long to get to its one moving moment at the end.

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 18, 2009

Spike Lee has turned in an odd hybrid of a film--a 160 minute war epic combined with a crime thriller combined with a discourse on civil rights.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 30, 2009

As a theoretical corrective, it's salutary; as a movie, it's a frickin' blooper

| Aug 26, 2009

The agenda is obvious, but the rage feels justified, and meanwhile Lee gives us a few virtuoso touches.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 18, 2009

While it does have its weak points, it's held together by its unique angle on the war as well as strong characterization for its central characters.

| Feb 17, 2009

Problematic as a narrative...[but] Lee's simply too smart and talented to make a dismissible film. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 4, 2009

Ask ten people who've seen this movie what the title's "miracle" is referring to, and you'll get a couple of different guesses and a whole lot of blank stares and shrugs.

Full Review | Original Score: 62/100 | Jan 28, 2009

There are endearing moments but we're in a Spike Lee world where it's okay to interject his "black vs. the privileged white-man" lecture time and again to the detriment of the film.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 25, 2009

There's no moviemaking miracle at work here, just a half-baked project that might be Lee's biggest disappointment to date.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 26, 2008

It might have been easily trimmed by a half hour, which is a shame, because there are so many good moments buried in there -- a proverbial two-hour movie struggling to get out.

Full Review | Nov 12, 2008