With all the great actors and social commentary going for it, 25th Day fails due to Spike's inability to trust the audience.
25th Hour (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:161
Fresh:125
Rotten:36
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: An intelligent and well-acted film despite the usual Spike Lee excesses.
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Spike Lee's bracing adaptation of David Benioff's novel is a vibrant, vital motion picture. Edward Norton plays Monty Brogan, a harmless drug dealer who has 24 hours of freedom before serving a... Spike Lee's bracing adaptation of David Benioff's novel is a vibrant, vital motion picture. Edward Norton plays Monty Brogan, a harmless drug dealer who has 24 hours of freedom before serving a seven-year jail sentence. Nervous, confused, and terrified, Monty turns to his closest friends for support: Frank Slattery (Barry Pepper), a cocky stockbroker who resents Monty for throwing his life away; Jakob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a hapless high school teacher who is attracted to one of his students (Anna Paquin); and Monty's heartbroken father (Brian Cox), who blames himself for Monty's demise. And then there is Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), Monty's beautiful girlfriend, who may or may not be guilty of ratting Monty out to the cops. Monty spends his last day trying to ignore the inevitability of time, but everyone and everything only reminds him of the bleak, unpromising days that lay ahead. With 25TH HOUR, Spike Lee revisits the fiery territory of 1989's DO THE RIGHT THING. Frustrated by Hollywood's cold shoulder toward the tragedy of September 11th, Lee attacks the subject with fervor, resulting in a film that brilliantly captures the mood and atmosphere in New York City in the months following the attack. The film features stellar contributions from composer Terence Blanchard, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, and Lee's ensemble cast. [More]
Starring: Edward Norton, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Barry Pepper
Starring: Edward Norton, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson
Director: Spike Lee
Director: Spike Lee
Screenwriter: David Benioff
Producer: Julia Chasman, Tobey Maguire, Jon Kilik, Spike Lee
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Reviews for 25th Hour
A gritty, tragic tale of a life on the rocks, told by one of America's premier filmmakers, Spike Lee.
Norton is brilliant in creating a sympathetic and likable character that honestly feels little real remorse.
It effectively blends the two sides of his filmmaking, the narrative and the experimental, and forms a cohesive, thought-provoking whole.
A rewarding redemption piece that echoes the cynicism of post 9/11 sensibilities.
Terence Blanchard's expressive musical score becomes the backbone for this slice-of-life drama
An episodically interesting but ultimately failed effort boasting fine performances and a good score by Spike Lee stalwart Terence Blanchard.
Spike Lee goes from inspired gutsiness to pretentious gooeyness, as if Eminem turned into Alan Jackson.
It's the usual undisciplined, overextended Spike symphony: more fun than it is any good.
Lee has created that rarity in filmmaking: a movie we need, right now.
25th Hour has a lot of problems, but chief amongst them is the persistent feeling that Lee is just treading water, by trading on past glories and larding in celebrity appearances in the hope of actually selling a few tickets for a change.
An intriguing misfire that nonetheless holds our interest, keeping us wondering about the movie that might have been.
Flawed but compelling and with good performances and some memorable moments.
It's a bizarre movie, both vital and rigged, and like many Lee films it has sincere feelings dramatized with smooth calculation.
Sorrowful and thoughtful at the same time, 25th Hour is about how a single situation can jolt us out of our comfortable complacency and threaten us with the harsh fact that nothing will ever be the same again.
Latest News for 25th Hour
December 13, 2007:
David Benioff on The Kite Runner: The RT Interview
Adapting a book into a feature film can be a daunting task, especially when it is one of the best selling books in recent history. But David Benioff, the screenwriter of The... More...
March 23, 2006:
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Tension: it's the key to many a film, and this week's wide releases bring three variants on that theme. We've got a hostage situation ("Inside Man"), class conflict... More...
December 09, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: Inside Man
Looking for a good cop thriller from Spike Lee that stars Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Willem Dafoe? I know I sure do. But for now, this... More...
December 07, 2004:
Wolverine Spinoff Has a Screenwriter...and Maybe a Director
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