25th Hour
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Movie Reviews of 25th Hour
Movie Review: 24 hour of freedom fade in comparsion to one hour in prison
Summary: 5 Stars
This is probably Spike Lee's best movie, and that is saying something. The direction is amazazing, but the acting!!! The acting in this movie defies description, it is that good. Lee has taken it to another level with this movie, no preaching, just the truth. Hey, I even agreed with the preaching in Spike Lee's earlier movies, but I just felt that with this movie he had made a huge leap, this movie is deep, it will haunt you long after you finish watching it. It stays with you. This movie is depressing and upsetting, the characters are so well drawn that they seem like real people. Monty is sympahtic, but lets rememer he was not selling pot, LSD, or even coke. He was selling herion, which is the worst drug behind Crystal Meth and Crack. No one holds the moral highground in this movie, deeply flawed but lovable characters interact in scenes that are so realistic it is scary. Barry Pepper, we need to see more of you!! Everything you are in you are great, the sniper in Saving Private Ryan, etc. WOW!!!! Pepper's acting in this movie might even be better than Norton's. He plays a trader?/broker?/investor? for an investment bank on wall street. It does not really matter what his job title is, he is a professional gambler walking on a tightrope with no safety net in the chaos of the free market at its worst. In this movie he basically play Gorden Gecho's heir apparent. He is likeable but arrogant. He has a mean streak but he also has a big heart that hides under his shark persona, like Monty he is complex, but unlike Monty he never sold death. His job is certanily not moral, but neither is it downright evil. The only charcter in the film who could be described as moral is Philip C. Hoffman who plays Monty's childhood friend that has now become a school teacher. Hoffman is a bumbling clutz, but he is also intelligent and insightful, with a more balanced view of life than either Monty or Pepper's character has. Hoffman's character is understated, he has a crush on one of his students. So even he has his dark side. Monty's father was some sort of degenerate gambler who got into debt to a mobster, part of the reason Monty sold herion was to get him out of that debt. Monty's father bears responsiblity for what happens and he knows it, the guilt is eating him alive. Dawson plays Monty's Peurto Rican girlfriend who he suspects sold him out to the cops. She is one of Lee's favorite actors and demonstrates why in this movie, she went along with the easy drug money because it was convienent, she too bears partial responsiblity for what occured. Tony Saragusa plays a russian mobster and suprise, he can actually act!!! That is the set up of the characters, on to the plot. Monty has been busted for dealing herion, the cops come to his door and search his home, although they knew where to look, for the drugs. They find a kilo of herion. Monty is going to have to go to prison for seven years. Who betryaed him? That is a question that runs throughout the movie, but it is eventually answered. But that is just a subplot. The focus of this film is on the relationships between Monty and his two childhood friends, Pepper and Hoffman. They spend Monty's last day of freedom together waiting for the ax to fall. The supsense is suffacoting as the tension steadily builds. There is no escape, after the night is over Monty must go to prison. This movie is very, very, very, intense. Monty and his two friends try to go out and have a good time but that is impossible. What can you say to make Monty feel better? Nothing. Althoug these three might all be friends only Monty is going to prison in the morning, Pepper and Hoffman will go back to their lives. That is an unbridgeable gulf between them, an abyss that widens more and more as the night goes on. Monty is doomed, they are not, what chance does friendship have in those circumstances. NONE!!! They are little more than mourners at Monty's funeral. This movie feels so REAL, the fear begins to eminate of Monty is sickening waves, it is like he is waiting to be executed, but really it is almost worse. It is not living in a cell or getting beat up in prison that Monty truly fears, it is getting raped. It is inveitable, he is small and white, he will be raped, reapeatadly, probably every day, for the entire seven years, if he lasts that long. If that is not cruel and unusual punishment I dont know what is. Monty deseves to be punished, but no one deserves that!!! The fact that Monty is soon going to be gang raped by convicts understandably casts a pall on the evening. Monty does not deserve it, but as Clint Eastwood said "deserves got nothing to do with it." Really Monty just choose the wrong hustle, Pepper is a legal hustler and that is why he will not go to prison. This movie is painful to watch, you will wonder about Monty's fate for weeks after you have wathced the movie, even though you know he is a fictional character. This is the most powerful movie I have seen in a while, it takes a serious emotional toll on the viewer. This movie is a throwback to older movies from the 60s and 70s where chacters and acting made movies, not special effects. This movie also contains one of the best monalouges in movie history the f$$k this city and everyone in it speech into the bathroom mirror, if you are not from NYC that speech might to make sense to you but if you are from NYC, you will get it because he will articulate some of your private, repressed prejudices. Since I am Irish like Monty he did not offend me, but I am sure he offended everone else. This is one of the best movies of recent years, although if you are depressed or get depressed easily I would not recomend it.Movie Review: Wow
Summary: 5 Stars
25th HourCast: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson
Plot Summary: If you had 24 hours left before you had to say goodbye to everyone you knew, your family, your friends, your life, how would you spend those 24 hours? What would you say, how would you feel, what would you do? This movie tries to answer all these questions for one man...but there's a twist (of COURSE there's a twist, this IS a Spike Lee film, after all). Manty Brogan is a 31-year-old drug dealer from New York who's set to go to prison for a 7 year term after someone tipped the cops to his activities. Now, he has 24 hours to spend with his friends, his girlfriend, and his father. He doesn't know who tipped the cops, and so he's suspicious of everyone. And those around him have plenty of problems of their own. His girlfriend doesn't know how she will handle life without him. His father owed money to some dangerous people--that's why Monty started selling drugs in the first place. One of his friends is a neurotic stock broker and the other is an uptight high school teacher who has a "thing" for one of his female students. All of these stories play off each other as the film builds to its ambiguous climax.
Review: Spike Lee films are a mixed bag. They have interesting stories, but are bogged down by too much preachiness. Not so with this one. For those who are familiar with the "Hate" monologues of Lee's film "Do the Right Thing" (one character or multiple characters spout off at the camera about how they hate various other minorities), that scene is played out here, but with urprising results. Hating others because you're pissed off about your lot in life inevitable leads to the conclusion that your problems, however they may be connected to others, are still YOUR problems, and hating others won't get you any closer to solving those problems. All of his films have this message in some way, but his subtlty is improving with time.
Norton does a great job of portraying this character as a nice guy with some flaws. Monty's not a bad guy. The opening scene of this film shows him rescuing a wounded dog, whom he later adopts. He clearly loves his girlfriend, and he wants to start a family with her--though now he doesn't know if he can trust her, since she may have been the one who ratted on him. He also loves his father, and he'd do anything to help him. But he's not totally sympathetic--he may have started selling drugs to help his father, but he surely took advantage of the lifestyle that the money afforded him. The film doesn't make any value judgements on his character--he is who he is, and this is how he's spending his last 24 hours of freedom.
Rosario Dawson is also great as Monty's girlfriend, Naturel. She's worried about how Monty's acting, yet still ambiguous enough that we suspect she might have something to do with his arrest.
Barry Pepper is Monty's neurotic Stock Broker friend Francis. He too seems to have two personalities: He pledges to always be there for Monty, but talks behind his back about how Monty deserves what he gets, and once Monty goes to prison, the friendship is over. He's very "friendly" toward Naturel, yet he blames her for taking advantage of the money Monty's lifestyle provided even though they all knew it was dangerous for him. It's always unclear which of these people is the "true" Francis. Perhaps he doesn't even know himself.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent (isn't he always? as the uptight high school teacher with amarous feelings for his 17 year old student, Mary (Anna Paquin). He's fighting these feelings, sorting through his feelings about Monty, and stumbling uncomfortably through the movie, always looking unsure of what to do next. But what will happen when Mary shows up at the club where Monty is having his going away party...?
Monty is trying to figure out who turned him in, but that is far from the only thing on his mind. he knows that these 24 hours are important--how will he say goodbye to this part of his life?--but what is more important is that the rest of his life will be determined by what happens in that 25th hour. The first impression that he makes in prison will determine whether he will survive his sentance. After all, Monty's a good-looking guy, and good looking guys often have a hard time in prison...
Reflections: 25th Hour is about the little things in life that determine the big things. One small moment between Hoffman's character and his student will affect the future of his entire career. Monty's good looks could endanger the rest of his life. The importance of little things is underscored when Monty asks Hoffman's character to take care of his dog. He says saving the dog is "one of the best things I've ever done...every day he has for the rest of his life is because of me."
At the end of the film, everything is resolved and yet nothing is resolved (kinda like life, isn't it?) Chance and choice work together to determine destiny, and how you act and react even in small situations will affect the rest of your life. As the film's final line says, "It all came so close to not happening..." But this movie isn't about the rest of your life. It's about now. We don't know what will happen in Manty's 25th hour, but from viewing these 24, whether we like the character or not, we at least CARE what happens. That is the genius of this film, and why it is well worth seeing.
Movie Review: The Movie Oscar Forgot
Summary: 5 Stars
-It's hard for me to make a list of things I'd do if I had less than a day to celebrate my freedom but spending those moments with your loved ones isn't half bad. Monty's last day isn't a celebratory one though since he pretty much spends the bulk of his day making amends to people he's wronged including his dad who he doesn't see too much off and his lovely girlfriend whom he suspects of being the reason why he's in his recent predicament. The movie isn't all about Monty though since we do get to spend a lot of time with his two best friends who are very different. The teacher played by Hoffman has very strong feelings for one of his students and deals with that problem face on during the club scene. The Wall Street friend played by Pepper is the brash hot headed young man that has a thing for Norton's girl and he also deals with that problem in his own unique way in the club scene as well. If memory serves me right I believe that club scene is where a lot of the problems in the movie get worked out from Monty finding out who pinched him to Jacob dealing with his feelings for his young student
-Beniof said he got the inspiration for the story after he heard about two brothers that decided to cut up their faces before they went to jail in order to look ugly so they don't get raped. There is a similar scene like that in this movie and needless to say it is one of the best scenes in the movie or even better yet one of the best scenes to ever hit the silver screen. In that one great scene all the bottled up feeling the friends have towards each other comes out and they finally say to each other what the other has always wanted to say which ends up provoking Pepper to in fact make Norton ugly. It's a very powerful scene in the movie and I really love the decision to pull out the sound of Pepper crying because it does make the scene a lot better. Great moments like that are spread throughout the movie and I think the other noticeably great scene is the "f**k montage" which is Norton pretty much going off on every ethnic and high class person in NY. The reason why that hateful scene works so well is that in the end he turns the table on himself and curses himself out for severely screwing up. Plus the scene at the end when the varied ethnic groups smile at him is also a nice way of letting the audiences know that he's taken back all those mean stuff he said.
-When Monty is being driven to jail towards the end of the movie there's this little haunting monologue by Brian Cox in which he explains how Monty's life would be like if he didn't go to jail and that's one scene in the movie where everything comes to together beautifully. The cinematography has this dream quality to it that makes everything look poetic and Brian Cox' voice narrates the whole sequence whiles being accompanied by a great piece by Terrence Blanchard. That great low key stuff he writes is the highlight of that scene because as great as the narration by Cox is and as beautiful as the cinematography is in the end it all comes down to the music which really shines here. The music he plays for the "f**k montage" is a great one too and in keeping with tradition with that Copeland style it is very removed from what you'd expect. With it being such an angry scene you'd expect the music to be the same but instead he goes for the smooth jazz approach which makes the scene more powerful than if he had gone with some loud horns and guitars. Blanchard is a great treasure to the film music world and I hope someday more people join me in giving him the praise he deserves.
-Of Monty's entire friends the one that sticks out and has the most memorable lines is Barry Pepper. He is the most honest of the bunch and asks questions that we all want to ask but are too chicken to like why women cry after having great sex. He's that friend you have who will go and grab a girl's bum if you dared him to do and we all know friends like that are the best to have around. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great as the whiny friend that has his own little demons to conquer. Hoffman plays the shy introvert type very nicely and whiles he's not a scene stealer like Pepper he's still pretty good in the movie. Norton himself does a great job as Monty and he along with Pepper were two people I felt were greatly snubbed by the academy. The "f**k montage" alone should have given him a nod. Rosario Dawson and Mentalcritic's favorite Anna Paquin are great in the movie but there are not enough scenes with them to really stand out but it was still nice to see the two gorgeous women on the screen. Another person that should have gotten a nod was Lee for making this great movie. I know he's not the most popular filmmaker in the world but the man is one of the best and I strongly believe that he along with Norton, Pepper, and Blanchard should have received a nod.
-If you hate Spike Lee then you will hate this movie I guess for those of us with an open mind this should provide for some amazing movie moments
Movie Review: A fine peice of cinema.
Summary: 5 Stars
"The 25th Hour" has all the elements of an excellent film, and it doesn't let them go to waste. It deals with a simple yet difficult question that not many of us are ever faced with; how would you spend your last 24 hours of freedom? This is a question that Monty Brogan is unlucky enough to be faced with.The story follows Monty on his last day of freedom, as he says his last good byes to his father, his best friends, his business associates, and his girlfriend. After being busted for dealing heroine, Monty is sentenced to 7 long, painful years in prison. He spends his last day with the people who mean the most to him. He meets his 2 best friends, Jacob and Frank (portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper), and his girlfriend Naturelle (portrayed by Rosario Dawson), at a night club in NYC, where he is also supposed to meet his boss for one last time.
As many reviewers have pointed out, the film is set in a post 9/11 New York City. This part of the film worried me at first because I was afraid that it would take center stage over the story, but the 9/11 aspect isn't overly prominent in the plot and doesn't interfere with the other parts of the movie. I thought that director Spike Lee did a good jod of giving the attention to this subject that it deserved (particularly in the scene in Franks apartment that overlooks ground zero), but without allowing it to over shadow the story.
This film features excellent performances from all cast members, especially Norton. His portrayal of Monty is absolutely stunning. Norton portrays the character as a man who is being sent to his own personal hell within just a few hours. You can see Monty's guilt about what he's done, but you can also see his anger towards the circumstances that lead him to his decisions. This is shown most clearly in the "F**k You" monologue in the bathroom of his father's bar, where Monty proceeds to attack anyone and everyone who he feels are in some way responsible for the situation he is in, but in the end, he blames himself.
Philip Seymour Hoffman also gives a stellar performance as Monty's friend Jacob. Jacob is a high school English teacher who has an interest in one of his students (Anna Paquin) that is slightly more than educational. Hoffman does a wonderful job at showing Jacob's inner conflict. On one hand, Jacob has this attraction to his student, while on the other he has his career and his reputation for being relatively straight laced.
Rosario Dawson also turns in a great performance as Monty's girlfriend Naturelle. She feels guilty about never making Monty give up his criminal life, but she also feels that it was his life and he had to make his own choices. Frank feels much the same way about this. He feels that he should've done something to stop Monty and deals with the same guilt that Naturelle has, all though he also feels more hostility towards Monty than any other character, shown in the scene in his apartment where he tells Jacob that Monty got what he deserved. It doesn't seem like any other character in the movie thinks that Monty has really even done anything wrong. Illegal, yes, but not neccessarily wrong. Monty provided a service to people who wanted it, and as Frank says, he might have made a profit off the potential suffering of others, but no more than a clerk at a convenience store profits off cigarette sales that give people cancer. I thought that the film did an excellent job at showing this without glorifying drug dealing.
The direction from Lee is also remarkable. The camera work is good, especially considering that he worked with a different director of photography on this film than he normally does (I think). He seems to understand Monty's inner conflict and shows it very well. The editing is also very good in this film. Some may say that it's too long, but I didn't really think so, all though I do prefer longer movies anyway.
All things considered, this is a very interesting movie. It deals with choice in a different way than any other movie I've seen. It shows the perks of the choices that Monty makes, but ultimately shows the consequences. I highly reccomend it.
Movie Review: Unsettling and atmospheric
Summary: 5 Stars
With the release of 25th Hour, Spike Lee has been blamed for `going middle of the road'; for `going white', for `going Hollywood'. The film has also been accused of being too slow, too atmospheric, too indulgent, with no plot. Of course, it was only two years before that Lee's previous creation, `Bamboozled', was blamed for being too provocative, too racially focused, too in-your-face, and with too many contrived plot turns. It seems he just can't win these days; it seems quite obvious to me that these two films, very different though they are, are his best creations in a long time - since 1992's `Malcolm X' at least - and both are fantastic and original films, among my favorites.
It's true that there is very little going on in `25th Hour', but a lot is happening beneath the surface; while it raises none of the racial issues we may somehow expect from Lee, it's a very powerful - if subtle - social commentary, about post-9/11 New York City. Other than being the first major piece of fiction to refer to the disaster from a personal viewpoint, and that much can be seen from the beautiful montage of footage from the WTC monument that follows the moody opening scene. Lee's approach to this difficult and provocative subject is very real and very personal, and it's clearly from the viewpoint of a real New-Yorker. And although Ground Zero at WTC serves mainly as a backdrop and the attack is referred to directly only once in the film, it's hard not to see the important connection between the story of New York's disaster, and the personal disaster of New Yorker Monty Brogan.
25th Hour is as much an achievement for Spike Lee as it is for lead actor Edward Norton; and I consider it the final piece in a trilogy of fantastic films that clearly based Norton as one of the leading actors of his generation, a rise that began four years earlier with American History X and Fight Club (sadly, Norton has not again fulfilled his potential since 25th Hour, but I'm still waiting to see what he has to offer). Norton's portrayal of Monty Brogan is moving and complex; Brogan is a drug dealer, but he's not necessarily a bad guy - he's a man who made some bad decisions, and is now paying for them. And even though Norton is supported by a fantastic, first rate cast - one that includes Brian Cox, Rosario Dawson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper and Anna Paquin - it's clearly his show, and he makes the most of it. Norton brings Monty to life as a classic anti-hero, and he's as fascinating a protagonist as the characters he played in Fight Club and American History X. 25th Hour is an atmospheric and intense character study, and Norton's performance makes it perfect.
That can be seen most clearly in the infamous mirror monologue, which was attacked most vigorously by the film's critics, and hailed most enthusiastically by its supporters. That scene harks back to a very similar scene that Lee did many years before in his celebrated masterpiece `Do The Right Thing', but it provokes a very different meaning. Like the scene in `Do The Right Thing', the mirror scene is a perfect example of one of the things I love most about Lee as a director, and one that constantly angers his critics, is his uncompromising approach for provocation and straightforwardness; Lee never felt any need to be too subtle or to dodge artfully around painful subjects like racism, and in this scene he tackles the problems of post-9/11 head on, and with no fear of stirring things up. It's a powerful and difficult scene, one of the boldest made in recent years, and by itself it makes the film memorable.
25th Hour is poetry; if it sometimes seems slow, it's because the important action is all below the surface, in the soul of Monty Brogan, and in all the lost souls of New York City. It's probably the most atmospheric piece Lee has pulled, but it's a beautiful work, and is well recommended for fans of Lee's and Norton's both. It's an unnerving and unsettling experience, but well worth the admission.