And I find that very odd not that 25th Hour suffers from being about a white man, but nor would it suffer, and it would maybe gain a little bit more bite, from being re-written to be about an African-American man. It's also his second of only three of his films with a white protagonist (the others are 1999's Summer of Sam and the 2013 remake of Oldboy I won't tell you that you're wrong if you want to include Inside Man, but I won't tell you that you're right, either) and the only one of those three that's any good at all. Powerful and uplifting, "25th Hour" is well worth two of yours.A review requested by Will Beckley, with thanks for donating to the Second Quinquennial Antagony & Ecstasy ACS Fundraiser.Ģ5th Hour is a great curiosity in Spike Lee's filmography: it feels, to watch it, like an extremely important and personal film to him, in which the director is unloading all his anxiety and anger and fear and God knows what from 9/11 - and how right it is that the most New York of all American film directors * would have made the most nerve-jangled of all post-9/11 films, without 9/11 showing up as a plot point, but we'll get to that - and doing it through some of the most minutely realised, naturalistic characters anywhere in his filmmography. The slightly overblown finale can't quite fulfill the preceding promise, but this is still Lee's best picture in years.
Barry pepper 25th hour movie#
The time-limited, pressure cooker environment brings to mind Lee's "He Got Game" and "Do the Right Thing", and the director showcases his admirable ability to capture moments of emotional substance through striking visual style (Hoffman's post-kiss scene is a classic).ĭavid Benioff's honest, intelligent script - from his own novel - nails the resentment and love which characterise lifelong friendships, and captures the volatile, vital nature of seemingly inconsequential banter (recalling another movie about choice, friendship and redemption: Hal Ashby's 1973 classic "The Last Detail"). The message underlies but never overpowers a moving, witty character piece. This may all sound terribly worthy, but far from it. (Hammering the point home, his apartment is decorated with a poster for the famously allegorical "Cool Hand Luke".)
From the opening credits - a New York nightscape with spotlights standing in for the Twin Towers - "25th Hour" sets its stall as a picture with subtext. It is also about the choice facing America, post-September 11th. Not just in Monty's dilemma over whether to stay or scarper, but his earlier decision to make easy, illegal money - and the tacit complicity of his loved ones, from lover Rosario Dawson to dad Brian Cox. Spike Lee's latest joint is about choice. It's their final night together, and they plan to get steaming drunk. Philip Seymour Hoffman's naive teacher is preoccupied with an alluring student, and Barry Pepper's Wall Street suit figures Monty's getting what he deserves.
The Russian mob fear he's going to give them up, he wonders if his girlfriend gave him up, and his friends have given up. Slick Manhattan drug dealer Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) has 24 hours of freedom before starting a seven-year stretch in the slammer.
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