The Glass Shield has a specifically cinematic vision and visual poetry ...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 7, 2022

The fact that this is a true story makes this tale of cruelty and corruption that much more more sobering.

| May 13, 2022

While it carries an unavoidable social charge, the movie never feels dogmatic or moralistic.

| Oct 18, 2018

An angry anti-cop message flick directed and written to be subversive by angry LA based indie filmmaker Charles Burnett.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 15, 2013

Ambition is something to respect in an artist, but Charles Burnett's police-corruption drama The Glass Shield is such a maladroit piece of filmmaking that its weighty themes and sclerotic tangle of a plot end up making it a trial to sit through.

| Original Score: D | Jul 6, 2010

A powerful moral drama that tries to deal with the racism at the root of many problems in contempo American society.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

Despite studio interference, it's still a decent film, and the association of a black man and a Jewish woman (as two outcasts) is a welcome addition to the genre.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 17, 2006

The movie feels sketchy, as if Burnett chopped the flesh off his screenplay and left us only the bare bones.

| Jun 24, 2006

Burnett uses a socially discomforting scenario that has only vague implications of deeper malice to initiate a brave portrayal of a Caucasian-centric sort of martial law.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 29, 2005

The film's ambition makes Burnett's occasional overstatement easy to forgive.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2005

Credit writer/director Burnett for having the courage of his convictions, even if the outcome is a film that a lot of people will see as clichéd and stereotyped.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 13, 2005

an entirely honorable - if inevitably doomed - attempt to reconcile Burnett's political and social concerns with the requisites of mass entertainment.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 14, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 24, 2004

Generic racial drama, hindered by a clubfooted direction and lumbering performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 11, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 26, 2002

A surprisingly compelling look at racism amongst police officers.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 25, 2002

Definitely not the work of a genius

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 12, 2002

It's a rigorous, angry piece of work, but it misses out on the psychological depths that have made Burnett's previous films among the glories of recent American independent moviemaking.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 13, 2001

It has both ideas and a point of view. But the ideas are far from new, and the point of view is blatantly knee-jerk.

| Jan 1, 2000