Couldn’t have been more generic if it tried.
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
There's a new maturity on display here, and the result is the director's most satisfying feature in over a decade.
The profanity-laced dialogue is funny, true to the way grown best friends talk to one another, and a pleasure to listen to.
Would have been a masterpiece if only Spike Lee had left Benioff's powerful story the hell alone.
[Lee's] vision of the anomie behind the glitzy New York nightlife is almost as vivid and potent here as it was in Sam, and he builds a lively ensemble of characters around Norton with mostly believable relationships.
It's a long, complex, deeply flawed work -- and also quite possibly Lee's most ambitious and accusatory movie since Do the Right Thing in 1989.
It could have been more taut, could have been harder, but 25th Hour still resonates with power and poetry.
[Lee's] movies still have plenty on their mind. And they're not afraid to talk about it.
Not the kind of tale one expects to be so heart-stoppingly distressing, so emotionally devastating.
The film does a good job in capturing the grim mood of NYC after 9/11.
Impressively, Lee steps out of his narrow genre, paints a stunning portrait of New York City, and will surely gain a wider audience with 25th HOUR.
Spike Lee gives us a crime movie that isn't -- and puts us all under indictment.
Lee is after something deeply poignant, but it proves to be as elusive as his protagonist's freedom.
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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