Film critics agree that "The Spook Who Sat By the Door" is a significant movie in that it presents a highly politically charged vision of black people, and according to "PopMatters" the film "remains one of the few uncompromised representations of black armed resistance in the United States." In a 2004 review for "Philadelphia City Paper", Sam Adams recognizes the importance of "Spook"’s questioning of politics and race in America, despite some other technical weaknesses. Adams writes: "the movie's sly polemicism has arguably aged better than the revolutionary rhetoric that inspired it", and notes that the conflict within "Spook" in its use of stereotypical imagery along with its revolutionary political message: "Hailed as a landmark and denounced as racist, 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door' is, at the very least, still worth arguing over."