Rating: 
Summary: 24 hour of freedom fade in comparsion to one hour in prison
Review: This is probably Spike Lee's best movie, and that is saying something. The direction is amazazing, but the acting!!! The acting in this movie defies description, it is that good. Lee has taken it to another level with this movie, no preaching, just the truth. Hey, I even agreed with the preaching in Spike Lee's earlier movies, but I just felt that with this movie he had made a huge leap, this movie is deep, it will haunt you long after you finish watching it. It stays with you. This movie is depressing and upsetting, the characters are so well drawn that they seem like real people. Monty is sympahtic, but lets rememer he was not selling pot, LSD, or even coke. He was selling herion, which is the worst drug behind Crystal Meth and Crack. No one holds the moral highground in this movie, deeply flawed but lovable characters interact in scenes that are so realistic it is scary. Barry Pepper, we need to see more of you!! Everything you are in you are great, the sniper in Saving Private Ryan, etc. WOW!!!! Pepper's acting in this movie might even be better than Norton's. He plays a trader?/broker?/investor? for an investment bank on wall street. It does not really matter what his job title is, he is a professional gambler walking on a tightrope with no safety net in the chaos of the free market at its worst. In this movie he basically play Gorden Gecho's heir apparent. He is likeable but arrogant. He has a mean streak but he also has a big heart that hides under his shark persona, like Monty he is complex, but unlike Monty he never sold death. His job is certanily not moral, but neither is it downright evil. The only charcter in the film who could be described as moral is Philip C. Hoffman who plays Monty's childhood friend that has now become a school teacher. Hoffman is a bumbling clutz, but he is also intelligent and insightful, with a more balanced view of life than either Monty or Pepper's character has. Hoffman's character is understated, he has a crush on one of his students. So even he has his dark side. Monty's father was some sort of degenerate gambler who got into debt to a mobster, part of the reason Monty sold herion was to get him out of that debt. Monty's father bears responsiblity for what happens and he knows it, the guilt is eating him alive. Dawson plays Monty's Peurto Rican girlfriend who he suspects sold him out to the cops. She is one of Lee's favorite actors and demonstrates why in this movie, she went along with the easy drug money because it was convienent, she too bears partial responsiblity for what occured. Tony Saragusa plays a russian mobster and suprise, he can actually act!!! That is the set up of the characters, on to the plot. Monty has been busted for dealing herion, the cops come to his door and search his home, although they knew where to look, for the drugs. They find a kilo of herion. Monty is going to have to go to prison for seven years. Who betryaed him? That is a question that runs throughout the movie, but it is eventually answered. But that is just a subplot. The focus of this film is on the relationships between Monty and his two childhood friends, Pepper and Hoffman. They spend Monty's last day of freedom together waiting for the ax to fall. The supsense is suffacoting as the tension steadily builds. There is no escape, after the night is over Monty must go to prison. This movie is very, very, very, intense. Monty and his two friends try to go out and have a good time but that is impossible. What can you say to make Monty feel better? Nothing. Althoug these three might all be friends only Monty is going to prison in the morning, Pepper and Hoffman will go back to their lives. That is an unbridgeable gulf between them, an abyss that widens more and more as the night goes on. Monty is doomed, they are not, what chance does friendship have in those circumstances. NONE!!! They are little more than mourners at Monty's funeral. This movie feels so REAL, the fear begins to eminate of Monty is sickening waves, it is like he is waiting to be executed, but really it is almost worse. It is not living in a cell or getting beat up in prison that Monty truly fears, it is getting raped. It is inveitable, he is small and white, he will be raped, reapeatadly, probably every day, for the entire seven years, if he lasts that long. If that is not cruel and unusual punishment I dont know what is. Monty deseves to be punished, but no one deserves that!!! The fact that Monty is soon going to be gang raped by convicts understandably casts a pall on the evening. Monty does not deserve it, but as Clint Eastwood said "deserves got nothing to do with it." Really Monty just choose the wrong hustle, Pepper is a legal hustler and that is why he will not go to prison. This movie is painful to watch, you will wonder about Monty's fate for weeks after you have wathced the movie, even though you know he is a fictional character. This is the most powerful movie I have seen in a while, it takes a serious emotional toll on the viewer. This movie is a throwback to older movies from the 60s and 70s where chacters and acting made movies, not special effects. This movie also contains one of the best monalouges in movie history the f$$k this city and everyone in it speech into the bathroom mirror, if you are not from NYC that speech might to make sense to you but if you are from NYC, you will get it because he will articulate some of your private, repressed prejudices. Since I am Irish like Monty he did not offend me, but I am sure he offended everone else. This is one of the best movies of recent years, although if you are depressed or get depressed easily I would not recomend it.
Rating: 
Summary: One scene should be cut...
Review: I could definitely have done without the scene with Ed's character cursing himself in the mirror. "F the Arabs..." What was that? What did that have to do witht he movie? And it went on and on and on... Otherwise, an interesting film. Really unusual. And touching. I felt such sympathy for his character and what would become of him. Man, I just sat there thinking it all through and felt so heavy with grief for him.
Rating: 
Summary: Joint? Smoke it, don't play with it
Review: Spike Lee's self concious stylishness always seems at cross purposes with his subject matter. Here, irritating colour filters, jump cuts, floating actors, etc. One poignant discussion between two friends looking down at some building works has it's dialogue drowned by strings climaxing with a chorus of mother superior having an epileptic fit in her bathtub. This artifice will always drag his work down into superficiality. Pity. According to the special features this is about the 9/11. Must have missed that. Since Norton was delivering an acidic diatribe against New Yorkers, wouldn't he say "and all you grief junkies with your maudlin shrines, a couple of buildings fell down, get over yourselves!" Rather than have a go at Bin Laden? Not like Spike to duck controversy. Norton needs to do something a little less Nortony, too. There's a scene in a toilet between a college professor and his student that I just couldn't watch for squirming. There's some forced melodrama towards the end. Don't get me wrong, this is better than Summer Of Sam by a long chalk.
Rating:
Summary: 25-th hour
Review: When the movie first started I was very emotional to see the two lights replacing the Twin Towers - automatically I was sent back to 9/11's tragedy. I had to cry........ I thought I've seen the helpless victims again waving white clothes to indicate to helpless viewers that Help is needed. Gosh..... We will remember 9/11 but its difficult to go back there. It's just too sad. Anyways, the movie didn't turn up to be what I've expected. I got so confused and very bored by unneccesary long scenes. What I liked the most about the movie was when Monty had the dialogue with himself in front of the mirror. It's true there were FU's but there is a powerful message in those swearings I believe.
"When in Rome do as Romans do (and I'll add this myself) and love Romans too". In 25-th hour Romans are Americans! and...(un)fortunetaly Monty's accusations were right!!! And if people come up with thoughts that "Monty is a racist" then they should think again "Who is a racist?!?" Monty or themselves! because -
IF you're gonna chose U.S.A. as your country then you must love, work and protect U.S.A's interests by all means. If you're only after U.S. dollars then go to your own country as there'll be more ways you can make them. Yeah, simple as that.
Appreciation, that's what is needed from people Monty is mad at.
So appreciate U.S.A., learn English, think American and behave CIVILISED so then you can avoid getting offended in movies such as 25-th hour. After all 25-th hour is a long movie and rather "boring" but it's worth watching it.
Rating:
Summary: The talented cast makes up for the weak script
Review: The 25th Hour is really two movies awkwardly pasted together: one is a gritty street fable about trust and loyalty, the other is a sensitive portrait of post-9/11 New York. It is a weird combination of subject matter; it almost seems like Spike Lee felt obligated to throw an NYC tribute into his film at the last minute, and this makes the story uneven and unclear. Luckily, everyone in the cast has enough skill to make up for the aspects that Lee abandoned. Edward Norton gives depth to even the most poorly developed characters, and his Monty is no exception. Apparently Monty is arrested for selling drugs, but the film does not say why he became a drug dealer or elaborate on this part of Monty's life. Monty is arrested, and must report to prison in 24 hours, and that is the extent to which his life of crime is revealed. His girlfriend, Naturelle, played by the tragically underrated Rosario Dawson, is a sweet Puerto Rican girl whom Monty's friends blame for his arrest. His best friends are as confused and uncertain as he is, and so Monty's father ends up being his true confidant and savior. One of Monty's friends, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, is a clumsy high school English teacher with a crush on one of his students. This is a potentially interesting storyline that doesn't really go anywhere. Anna Paquin does a great job of portraying an aggressively flirtacious teenager, but her story is left unfinished, and so her prescence is never quite defined. Other unfinished parts of the film include a powerful fight sequence under a bridge after Norton tells his friend to "make him ugly" so that his fellow inmates won't find him desirable. It is a scene that may be stolen directly from Fight Club, but it is nonetheless a moving one. The scenes where Monty curses the people of New York and where his father gives him advice on starting over, could have been brilliant but seem out of place and preachy. This is the first Spike Lee film I have ever seen, but already I feel like he gives his agenda more screen time than his characters. I know that there is racism in New York, but it does not seem necessary to go through every ethnic stereotype that exists in the five bouroughs. I guess the fact that Naturelle was immediately distrusted reflects prejudice toward Hispanic people, but this is only a small facet of the story. It's not a movie about racism. Then again, I don't really know what this movie is supposed to be about. Had Spike Lee spent more time on the plot and less time on expressing his principles, I'm sure this would have been a better film.
Rating:
Summary: Norton and Pepper are great
Review: this movie is good on so many levels and it leaves you in suspense all the way threw it. Norton has a 25 hour time limit because someone snitched him out because he had drugs. so hes going to prison and he has to make amends and bond with friends for the remaining time. It's just a great spike lee movie and you have to apprecaite the way he does this, bringing in the footage of ground zero in new york. Norton and Barry Pepper give the best performances in here, especially when Norton wants Pepper to beat him up before he goes into the prison for 7 years, and that scene is filled with so much power and emotion I thought it was the powerfulest moment in the picture. a must see for anyone who likes any of the people in the movie and its on my top 20 favorite
Rating: 
Summary: Spike Lee May Not Be My Guy
Review: Now maybe I haven't acquired a taste for Spike Lee and you have to understand him in order to enjoy this movie. I believe that directing style is an art, and everyone will just not see something through the artist's eyes. This is the situation for me. I rented the 25th Hour intrigued at the thought of a movie based on a man's last day before he went to jail. While I didn't expect a movie that would play a dilema out like this with a upbeat and positive lets-have-the-night-of-our-lives attitude, I also did not expect the languid, morbid pace of the movie. There were touching moments in the movie. Edward Norton's connection to his best friends is strong, and the last moments that they share together prove not to be moments where your friend can fill you with thoughtful speeches, but moments of pain, where friends honestly don't know what more they can do for you. But altogether the movie made a horrible impression to me. The scenes dragged on unusually long, and the score for the movie didn't fit well with it at all. Edward Norton, an unusully supurb actor who can fill characters with depth, found himself with a character that was not complete. Monty lacked a real conscience. His struggle against time and right-and-wrong really seemed rather shallow because the character had no conviction. All in all, I don't recommend you taking the time to watch this movie...
Rating:
Summary: very well directed
Review: Allthough many may find this movie unsettling, I feel if you watch it with an open mind you will see that its probably one of the greatest movies from 1990 on.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't always work
Review: Overall, a mixed bag. I didn't know a lot about about the movie before watching the DVD, but based on the film critics' blurbs on the jacket, it looked promising. There are definitely things I liked about the movie, the acting being the main part. Ed Norton gives a great performance as Monty, a drug dealer who has only 24 hours of freedom before going to prison, and is easily the best thing in this movie. Most of the supporting cast give good performances as well, especially Anna Paquin whose role is unlike any other one she has done. However, her character doesn't really advance the story, which is the main problem with this movie. The script tends to meander, with plot lines that seem to have little to do with the main story. One example of this is the scene in a bathroom mirror where a pseudo Monty unleashes a tirade against minorities. Well acted by Norton, but excuse me, what does this have to do with the plot? It comes out of nowhere and nothing in the movie suggests that race was the reason why Monty is in trouble. So the scene, although interesting, seems badly out of place (it would've worked great in "American History X"). Another aspect that bothered me were the references to Ground Zero. Yes, 9/11 touched all our lives and it's part of the fabric of NYC, but to include gratuitous shots of Ground Zero just because a character happens to live right next door to it was frankly, in my opinion, exploitive. Except for this character and Monty's father, a former fire fighter who now owns a bar, there were no other apparent connections with any of the other characters, including the main character Monty, to the events of 9/11. Yet when Spike Lee opens the film with shots of the NYC skyline, with the twin beams of light shining into the night, the viewer might think that the events of 9/11 would somehow factor into the plot. But it doesn't and to see multiple shots of Ground Zero that have absolutely nothing to do with the story was completely unnecessary. I really wanted to like this movie, but because of a plot that doesn't seem to go anywhere, I can't recommend this movie.
Rating:
Summary: a flawed masterpiece, filled with love and rage
Review: Spike Lee's latest, "25th Hour," is his best movie in years, but like every movie he's ever made, it's a mixed bag that's often brilliant but occasionally frustrating. "25th Hour" tells the story of Monty Brogan (Edward Norton), an upscale heroin dealer who's been busted and has one day of freedom left before he's off to serve a seven-year prison sentence. While the clock ticks, Monty gets together with his friends and family and tries to brace himself. The story is set against the backdrop of New York not long after 9/11, a setting that makes the tale far more resonant but also threatens to diminish Monty's plight. Who do we feel more sympathy for: Monty, a pampered criminal whose good times have dried up, or his best friend, a law-abiding citizen whose apartment windows look directly down onto the cold grim wound of Ground Zero? Spike Lee is one of the best directors working today and parts of "25th Hour" are astounding: a stunning opening credits sequence depicting the ghostly Tower Lights Memorial; a sad and funny scene in which a man saves the life of an injured dog; an angry rant against New York that turns into a detailed love letter to the city and its people; mesmerizing shots in which two actors appear to levitate across a barroom. These and many of the movie's other ingredients are further proof of Lee's genius as a filmmaker. On the other hand, there are a lot of things in "25th Hour" that don't work. As always, Lee's ambition sabotages him; he tries to tell too much story and as a result, some of the characters and their subplots get shortchanged. Terrence Blanchard's score is haunting and powerful, but is occasionally too big and bombastic for the scenes. And a long, strange
"is-this-real-or-is-it-a-dream?" finale feels like bootlegged John Steinbeck and doesn't really work. But there's no denying the movie's strengths. The cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto ("Amores Perros," "8 Mile") is dark and beautiful and the film looks like it's been submerged in India ink and then hastily rinsed off (that's a compliment).
Norton, as always, turns in a smart performance and there are inspired supporting turns by Anna Paquin, Barry Pepper, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Cox and a fine debut by former Baltimore Ravens defensive nose tackle Tony Siragusa as Norton's Ukranian sidekick. But mostly, "25th Hour" succeeds as a New Yorker's portrait of his wounded hometown not long after it suffered unspeakable hardships. Lee's storytelling skills may fail him from time to time, but his eye - which captures faces and flags and rubble and skylines and shrines to fallen firefighters with heartbreaking precision - always sees true. The DVD includes two reserved but insightful commentaries by Spike Lee and by David Benioff (who wrote the screenplay, based on his novel); "Evolution of an American Filmmaker," a detailed documentary about Lee's career; "Ground Zero," a collection of clinical first- and second-unit shots of the World Trade Center site; and several deleted scenes, many of which -- particularly "Sway" are quite good and would've added to the final cut.
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