25th Hour
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: December 19, 2002
8.3
USER SCORE
Universal acclaim based on 242 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
207
Mixed:
22
Negative:
13
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
10
JoshCFeb 3, 2007
In the 25th hour, Mr. Lee exercises his prodigious visual talents with unusual restraint, and keeps some of his more confrontational urges in check. Because the movie is so measured, so melodic, its bursts of wild invention, which might In the 25th hour, Mr. Lee exercises his prodigious visual talents with unusual restraint, and keeps some of his more confrontational urges in check. Because the movie is so measured, so melodic, its bursts of wild invention, which might otherwise be irritating, are electrifying. The ending, narrated by Mr. Cox, is as bittersweet and sincere an evocation of the American dream as I have seen on film in quite some time, acknowledging both the futility of the collective national fantasy and its consoling, resilient power. Almost as touching is a moment when Monty, staring into a men's room mirror, launches into a profane tirade against his fellow New Yorkers (and everyone else). His rage is impressively ecumenical, encompassing blacks, brutal police officers, gays, Osama bin Laden, the rich, the poor and every other ethnic or social type you can think of: all of them put down with ruthless, scabrous precision. The rant recalls a famous sequence in ''Do the Right Thing'' and also Eminem's more recent invocation, in ''White America,'' of ''so much anger aimed/in no particular direction just sprays and sprays.'' But like Eminem's rhymes, Monty's outburst, and the montage that accompanies it, contain tenderness as well as hate. Mr. Lee, an irreplaceable New York filmmaker, understands better than most that the true New Yorker's deep, exasperated and unquenchable love for his city is sometimes best expressed in the language of rage.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful
8
AxeFishApr 28, 2013
This certainly isn't a movie that I would want to watch together with friends. Instead of trying to grab your attention with visual-heavy scenes, this movie mainly consists of conversations. It's about a realistic scenario and how the peopleThis certainly isn't a movie that I would want to watch together with friends. Instead of trying to grab your attention with visual-heavy scenes, this movie mainly consists of conversations. It's about a realistic scenario and how the people affected by it are dealing with it. And I really like the movie for that. It's different from what I usually watch.
The conversations are also very realistic. There are some scenes that were kind of unnecessary but still blew me away by how these characters talked to each other. A lot of times I thought to my self: "Yea, I could see my self taking part of that conversation." Although the drug mobster is kind of overblown.
I can see why people find this movie boring. It's not for everyone. If you're the type of guy that can sit down for 2 hours and listen to people talk to each other about what they think will happen to them and what they're afraid of instead of them taking part in action scenes, then give this movie a shot. I certainly really enjoyed it.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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10
MelindaV.Jan 4, 2007
It was an awesome movie, with an awesome plot. Lee did a wonderful job on this one.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
10
LanceN.Oct 20, 2006
Great.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
pabloe.Oct 23, 2007
This movie got me from the start. The intensity of the human drama is very high, like in a Bergman movie.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
7
lordslayerNov 8, 2014
it does bloody grabs you from the start, one of the best first scenes in cinema history if you ask me.

However the mid of the film felt slow to me, was plannin on giving it a 6 but the last scene really redeemed it and got it an extrait does bloody grabs you from the start, one of the best first scenes in cinema history if you ask me.

However the mid of the film felt slow to me, was plannin on giving it a 6 but the last scene really redeemed it and got it an extra point.

so, really awesome start and perfect ending, if only the journey was as captivating..… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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9
ZiggyStardustJul 3, 2011
The one scene where Norton's character is talking to himself in the mirror of that restaurant is the one that totally sold me on this film. It was pretty good until that point but when that happened I was blown away. Great film!
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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8
SpangleDec 29, 2014
When it comes to 25th Hour, this one succeeds in spite of Spike Lee. One of my least favorite directors for the way he randomly interjects race into films that are not about race at all, he manages to largely keep his mouth shut in this one,When it comes to 25th Hour, this one succeeds in spite of Spike Lee. One of my least favorite directors for the way he randomly interjects race into films that are not about race at all, he manages to largely keep his mouth shut in this one, though he did add some very useless elements of racism that just did absolutely nothing for the plot in classic Spike fashion. Now, luckily for him, the film has a very interesting plot and storyline that Lee does tell well, but the true reason why 25th Hour is so successful is the acting. Truly a great cast, Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson, Brian Cox, and Anna Paquin, are all awesome in this one and truly carry it. Norton and Hoffman are two of my favorite actors of all-time, but yet I cannot help but feel as though Pepper kind of stole the show a little bit. He was just that good. Emotionally powerful at many different times, 25th Hour is a riveting tale of man facing his last 24 hours of freedom before going to prison for seven years and on the back of the acting, this one soars in spite of Lee's attempts to try and mess it all up.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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9
askewreviewsJun 19, 2013
The 25th Hour is a faithful adaption, sticking closely to the novel. The only real deviation is Spike Lee's inclusion of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the event's effect on NYC, and it's done masterfully. The acting is superb acrossThe 25th Hour is a faithful adaption, sticking closely to the novel. The only real deviation is Spike Lee's inclusion of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the event's effect on NYC, and it's done masterfully. The acting is superb across the board, the pacing near-perfect and it all adds up to one of the most moving films I've ever seen.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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10
TheFilmDoctorMar 22, 2016
A little king of New York turned outcast princeling, Edward Norton wanders through a purgatory of his own design in the Spike Lee-directed 25th Hour, enjoying (if the word applies) one last day of freedom before serving a seven-year sentenceA little king of New York turned outcast princeling, Edward Norton wanders through a purgatory of his own design in the Spike Lee-directed 25th Hour, enjoying (if the word applies) one last day of freedom before serving a seven-year sentence on felony drug charges. The story, which David Benioff adapted from his own novel, unfolds mostly over the course of that one day, but it's enough to reveal a lifetime. The gifted son of an Irish firefighter-turned-bartender (Brian Cox), Norton entered his ill-fated life of crime one easy step at a time. Neither the quiet disapproval of his lifelong friends (Barry Pepper, as a high-stakes stockbroker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, as a lonely high-school English teacher) nor the love of a good woman (Rosario Dawson) could steer him away from it. From a tasteful Manhattan apartment, beneath an unknowingly ironic Cool Hand Luke poster, he became an inconspicuous criminal, the drug lord as Harper's subscriber. Now his reign has ended, and the business of living has become considerably less pleasant. Telling what's essentially a story of introspection, Lee lets Norton drape his reflections over a whole city. Norton and his friends go about their day against the backdrop of a New York still unsteady from the recent attacks of Sept. 11, a phase in the city's history captured in The 25th Hour with almost journalistic detail. Where a less disciplined filmmaker might have used this merely to echo his characters' frames of mind, Lee sets up a complicated relationship between the city and its inhabitants, particularly Norton, who at one point explodes in a hateful monologue that barely hides the love beneath it. But love it or hate it, he knows he has to leave it, and that knowledge gives every moment a clear sense of urgency. It doesn't hurt that all of the performances are, at the least, remarkable. Norton creates a character who seems fully capable of the offenses he commits, and just as capable of the crippling regret he struggles to keep at bay. After all, one small change anywhere along the line, and things could have turned out differently. The film at its simplest serves as a cautionary tale, but it also functions as a meditation on how little it takes to redirect a life by choice or by chance: A woman could fall for a shameless volley of flirting, or a sideline business dealing pot could turn into a career dealing heroin, or a plane could fall from the sky, or the police could knock on the door and everything could change.… Expand
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9
JPKJul 8, 2019
Another Great Spike Lee Movie
25th Hour is absolutely fantastic with it’s amazing script.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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10
WalterKovacsDec 26, 2017
Some critics say the film runs too long, but I would have it no other way. Rodriguez Puerto makes this film visually stunning with shots and colors not seen in other films. The plot, performances, dialogue, pacing, and story-line are all inSome critics say the film runs too long, but I would have it no other way. Rodriguez Puerto makes this film visually stunning with shots and colors not seen in other films. The plot, performances, dialogue, pacing, and story-line are all in perfect order. A must see film for those who love movies.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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10
Offworld_ColonyFeb 19, 2020
25th Hour is a movie based on a book that you can tell used to be a book. It's a faithful adaptation by way of taking the time to extrapolate and portray (and sometimes betray) these characters on screen, the way they snap at each other like25th Hour is a movie based on a book that you can tell used to be a book. It's a faithful adaptation by way of taking the time to extrapolate and portray (and sometimes betray) these characters on screen, the way they snap at each other like only old friends and lovers can, the way they talk behind each others backs, but then have said back when the need arises. The source material's strengths (and script by a pre-Game of Thrones Benioff) are that the ramifications of the 25th hour are felt by all involved, and these characters are all of them culpable in their own ways, and corrupted, loveable, realistic, twisted and full of shades of grey. The dialogue is biting and lyrical, poignant and captures that real darkness. They accuse each other with the blinkers of themselves on.

Edwards Norton sings, an understated but typically tremendous performance, in fact, every cast member is at the top of their game, Barry Pepper, such an underrated actor is a perfect **** Rosario Dawson plays young and old so well in this movie it's like two different people and the incomparable Philip Seymour Hoffman is sad and hilarious. By the morning they all look, walk and talk like haggard older men, out all night, they let themselves be ugly.

Spike Lee has taken someone else's story and taken the state of his soul following 9/11 and he fused them into one story. Lee transposes his heartbreak, angst, pain and anger into this story, it's every bit his work as it is Benioff's book; not only was it cautionary and timely tale at the time, but its messages still resonate today. Spike Lee, a man who could describe New York City as "his city" made a film that reflected its shattered soul. When the camera frames Ground Zero out of focus for a conversation and then racks it into focus and Terence Blanchard's score swells, it's indelibly haunting and moving.

That scene, yes that scene. The Mirror scene. It's a bravura piece of filmmaking, writing and of acting; The jarring poetry of it stirs a dual idea of blame culture (more relevant now even than it was after 9/11) and then when this scene is reflected at the end, the very human idea that it's the things you think you hate about something, is more often than not, were the reasons you maybe actually loved about it.

During that scene and all over 25th Hour is the most soulful soundtrack I've ever heard; it's accusatory and soothing, it's almost constant throughout the film which is novel, and it seems to bleed a kind of unified pain; it has a sense of collective mourning, and the voices of the dead. It speaks for those that aren't there. It says the things that no one in the film does.

And that ending. I won't say anything about it suffice to say that it's also such a bold commitment, doubling down on the real pain of that 25th hour; just as powerful as the slow-start and slow reveal of what this film is even about. Even though I've never been in Monty's situation, there's that feeling; missing time, missed opportunities, passing over to new life, changes you made but never knew would happen, something like that, that pervades this entire film and makes it completely relatable in some esoteric and deeply human way.

25th Hour is my favourite Spike Lee movie. It has all of his hallmarks, his passions and his knowledge, but it's different, it's the New Yorker in him that made this film, not his race, it's a film that's more relevant than ever. It comes from deep within; when a person in this film embraces and the editing tries to snatch the same moment twice or three times, almost overlapping, you can palpably feel the characters try and snatch that moment back as if in protest to the shortness in time and amount of these moments left in their lives, or like the mind trying to remember the moments in the past that really mattered, when two people came together.… Expand
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