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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
US Box Office: $12,750,480
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
Superbly acted, as you would expect, it's also rich in moral nuance. Doing the right thing is not as simple in his films as it once was.
Who knows what Spike Lee's been taking, but whatever it is -- send me a couple of grams.
Lee successfully, seamlessly marries his famously inventive visual style with more introspective material.
Lee builds Monty’s story of tortured introspection and his final surprising, desperate act before incarceration through boldly candid conversations and flashbacks.
One of the more entertaining and thought-provoking Spike Lee Joints in a long while.
While 25th Hour has a several arresting characters struggling with credible problems, regrettably Monty isn't one of them.
'Spike Lee's love of New York, unlike Woody Allen's, has always been more tough than tender.'
Lee's best, most cohesive and most passionate film since Do the Right Thing.
25th Hour stands out as a remarkably atmospheric and elegiac American film, every scene heavy with the stillness of tragedy.'
In its own strange way [the film is] uplifting, a tribute to people's ability to face the unthinkable, and, if not triumph, at least persevere.
25th Hour is both Spike Lee’s condemnation of and valentine to what we’ve done before, but also a strangely inspiring reminder of how beautiful the mere opportunity to choose can be.
...a bit scattershot...but director Lee manages to pull it all together into a tense, gripping, suspenseful, and highly dramatic movie experience.
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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