25th Hour

25th Hour
by Spike Lee

List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $3.73
You Save: $6.26 (63%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.32 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

DVD details

• Academy Award(R)-nominee Edward Norton (Best Actor, 1999, AMERICAN HISTORY X) heads an amazing all-star cast in the critically acclaimed Spike Lee (SUMMER OF SAM, DO THE RIGHT THING) film 25th HOUR. In 24 short hours Monty Brogan (Norton) goes to prison for seven long years. Once a king of Manhattan, Monty is about to say good-bye to the life he knew -- a life that opened doors to New York's s

DVD Reviews of 25th Hour

DVD Review: one of Lee's best
Summary: 5 Stars

Montgomery Brogan is a good looking, generally pleasant-natured fellow who's made a lot of bad choices in his life and now finds himself having to pay the piper. Although Monty is terrified of going to prison, he harbors no illusions about the fairness of the verdict. He knows he screwed up and he feels no compulsion to squirm out of his punishment or to look for fall guys to take the blame for him. Monty's offense is, indeed, a serious one - selling drugs to schoolchildren - and, much to their credit, Benioff and Lee do not ask us to shed tears for Monty's fate. We are asked to care about Monty as a person, it's true, but not to approve of his actions. Monty has chosen to spend this last day of freedom in the company of his lifelong buddies, Frank and Jakob, the former a high stakes player on Wall Street and the latter a high school English teacher. Both men, who have taken widely differing paths in their own lives, still retain a spark of affection for Monty and even blame themselves to some extent for somehow letting Monty down at a time when they might still have been able to successfully intervene to help prevent the outcome they are all now facing. In fact, much of the film is spent on self-recrimination, with various characters coming to terms with the painful reality of a situation that seems to have gone beyond anyone's ability to affect or control it. The fourth member of the party is Monty's girlfriend, Naturelle, a woman deeply in love with the condemned man, who wishes he had gone straight before all this happened, yet who, during all the time she was with him, was not averse to enjoying what Monty's ill-gotten gains were able to buy for her. All the characters, in fact, struggle with having to find that moral and ethical line over which they will not cross. As the most "noble" person of the group, even Jakob, the schoolteacher, is confronted with having to make that choice and take that stand.

A lesser filmmaker would have used this plot setup as an excuse to fill up the screen with cheap melodramatics, screeching car chases, and endless dumb action sequences. Lee, being an actual film artist, does none of that. Instead, he allows the scenes to play themselves out in a totally naturalistic manner so that we really come to know and understand these various characters, with all their unhappiness and sorrow. It is a remarkably melancholy film, sad to the core, and Lee's beautifully controlled direction brings out that sadness. His style perfectly complements the mood he is endeavoring to create. The minimal cutting he employs within each individual scene allows the actors to establish connections with one another that would not be possible using a more razzle dazzle editing style. The dialogue is so rich and evocative that Lee doesn't feel the need to intervene at every moment to remind us he is there. The result is that the film never feels the slightest bit phony, not even for a moment. In fact, "25th Hour" is one of the most "honest" films to have come down the pike in a long long time. Of course, adding to that sense of sadness is the fact that the events of 9/11 seem to forever hover in the air around the characters and their city. There is a particularly remarkable scene in which Jakob and Frank discuss Monty's fate while sitting in front of Frank's apartment window - which just so happens to look directly down onto the rubble of Ground Zero. It is a stunning moment in a film filled with stunning moments.

Adding to the elegiac tone are Terence Blanchard's moody score and Rodrigo Prieto and Joe Williams' marvelously rich and beautiful cinematography, both of which reflect the contemplative nature of the characters on screen. There is some question as to the aptness of the fantasy coda Lee attaches to the end of the film. It isn't so much that we object to the point it is trying to make but rather that the excessive length of it makes it feel somehow redundant and robs us of the sense of emotional fulfillment we need to experience at the film's conclusion. That is, however, a minor quibble in a film as towering in effect and achievement as this one. And besides, Lee's angry young man tirades, though they still rear their heads from time to time, are kept to a bare minimum in this work.

Lee has gathered a brilliant ensemble cast to help flesh out his very real, very complex characters. The superb Edward Norton demonstrates once again why he is in the forefront of the world's great film actors. As Monty, he is, literally, incapable of hitting a single false note. Norton conveys the innate goodness and charm of a man who is about to embark on a phase of his life for which he alone bears responsibility. We can sense the regret, sadness and fear he is feeling in his every word, gesture and glance. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper do stand-up work as Monty's faithful pals, and Rosario Dawson shines with confident dignity as Monty's stalwart true love. All four contribute immensely to the verisimilitude of the piece.

"25 Hours" shows Spike Lee at the very peak of his form, a true master of his medium. This latest work is not merely one of the very best films of 2002, but one of the very best works this gifted artist has yet provided us. Welcome back!

Description of 25th Hour