Rating: 
Summary: watch it
Review: I wouldn't want anyone to tell me this was a horrible movie, as to stray me from watching it. I am glad I watched it. I was glad to see Spike Lee not make a horrible movie. I think this is, in many respects, a beautiful movie. There are many flaws in it. I think some of the more un-emotional parts are over-dramatized and vice versa. Also, the movie does go to long. I say it weighs 50/50... the things I like and don't like. The things I do like are really good. And I think it's worth watching. Once. Norton is good in it. He's got a lot of other actors in there who do a good job.
Rating: 
Summary: Film techniques add interest and edginess to this fine story
Review: This Spike Lee film is a hard-edged story of a convicted drug dealer on the last day before he has to serve a 7-year prison sentence. Edward Norton stars in this role and brings all his excellent acting talents to the task of taking a long last look at the New York City he loves as well as the important people in his life. There's his girlfriend, played by Rosario Dawson, who just might be the person who betrayed him to the cops. There's his father, played by Brian Cox, who blames himself for his son going astray. There are his two best friends, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper, who know that their friend will never be the same again. Add a couple of Russian gangsters to this mix, as well as a precocious teenager, played by Anna Paquin, whose seductiveness tempts Philip Seymour Hoffman into making an unwise decision, and the scene is set for an intriguing, fast-paced film. I liked the theme, which was about being responsible for the consequences of your actions, and I liked Spike Lee's interpretation of it. I especially liked some of his film techniques. Sometimes the colors are altered to show the main characters bathed in blue. And, during the sequences that get inside Norton's mind, the colors are glaring neon. This adds to the interest and the edginess of the film. The story is easy to relate to. The characters are real. The acting is the finest that the film industry has to offer. And there's a director who has his own personal style of bringing it all to life. You can't go wrong with that combination. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: one of Lee's better films
Review: A Film by Spike Lee Montgomery Brogan (Edward Norton) is facing a seven year jail term after being caught by the DEA for dealing drugs. This movie is his last 24 hours of freedom before he has to go to prison (for some reason he gets to bring himself to prison when the day ends). He contacts his two friends: Jacob Elinski (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a teacher with an unhealthy interest in his student Mary (Anna Paquin); and Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper), a stock broker who thinks too much of his abilities and too little of the money of his clients. The three of them will get together later that night along with Monty's girlfriend, Naturelle Riviera (Rosario Dawson). The film spends its time examing who Monty is. He's a man who rescues a dog that was abused and left for dead, but he is also a drug dealer with no pity for someone whom he helped become a junkie. We see how he relates to his girlfriend on his last day of freedom, as well as what his relationships are like with his best friends, and what they think of him. Throughout the movie, Monty is re-evaluating his life and what he has done in his life (many bad things). He has to decide how he wants to spend the rest of his life and what kind of man he wants to be. Spike Lee does not give us an answer on whether or not Monty is a good man (or if we should think that he is), but rather leaves the question for us to answer if Monty is doing the right thing throughout the movie. 25th Hour offers condemnation without judgment, if such a thing really is possible. This movie also is the first one that I have seen that addresses a post-September 11th New York. The opening credit montage has some fairly mournful music that both sets the tone for the movie as well as touching upon the terrorist attacks. The blue lights that we see are the spotlights that shine in the New York skyline in place of the towers. There are also small touches throughout the movie about post 9/11 New York. One of the best sequences in the movie is one where Monty is cursing all of New York, going down a list of stereotypes and realities before he gets to other things that he hates (including Osama Bin Laden) and concluding with himself. It is a beautifully written, if vulgar, speech. It is the money shot of the movie. This is an excellent movie (excellence in filmmaking), but it is not a great one. I don't know quite what the distinction is, but that as much as I like the movie, 25th Hour did not move me. I would recommend this movie to fans of Spike Lee and drama, in general, but I would not recommend this movie without reservations.
Rating:
Summary: Love Letter to New York City
Review: "25th Hour" is a beautiful, complicated, emotional, sometimes scary love letter to a post 9/11 New York City. I have liked Spike Lee's other films with a few reservations but am grateful that he likes to make us think. This movie takes his direction to another more sophisticated league entirely. It is seamless and supported by memorable performances by a great cast. I waited for the right emotional moment to watch this. It is a wonderful and powerful movie that validates not selling yourself short or taking a vibrant and diverse home like the Big Apple for granted.
Rating:
Summary: My wife liked it more than I did
Review: Without getting into heavy stereotypes about gender differences in movie preferences, it says something that my wife liked this more than I did. I was expecting something a bit more action, a bit more suspense, a bit more convaluted; she was intrigued by the characters, the interactions, the relationships. A fine movie, just not what either of us expected - and more to her liking.
Rating:
Summary: a powerful, emotional film.
Review: After about 20 reviews have been written, I usually don't bother. However, I have to urge you to experience this movie. It is so subtle but so amazing and meaningful. I actually watched it all the way through with the directors commentary on, which I have never done after watching a movie once. In this movie about drug dealers, russian gangsters, police raids, and murder, there is not one chase scene, and not one murder. This is an emotion film relying on the intelligence of the watcher to bring it together. You really feel for Monty (Norton) in this film, knowing that he's got 24 hours left before surrendering to 7 years in prison. The film is not constructed as a "yepee for drug dealers" flick, but you feel for him in that he knows that he messed up, and the show of regret in his face is very powerful. Anyone who has ever done anything they regreted (everyone) will really feel this. Watch the deleted scenes. There are several that should have been left in, in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Intense, Incredible!
Review: I loved this film. Edward Norton plays a thoroughly decent, likable fellow who makes his living on the wrong side of the tracks dealing drugs. The movie focuses on Monty's last night before going to prison for seven years. It explores how his going up affects the lives of his two best friends, his father, and his girlfriend. The movie reminded me a great deal of Meet Joe Black. The two movies have vastly different topics, but each one has rich, fully realized scenes. Norton and Hopkins take each scene and wring every emotional shred from it. Their facial expressions and body language leave you feeling the dread that they are burdened with. Monty's impending imprisonment becomes overpowering by the end of the movie and I was close to tears from pity for him. The film quality of the DVD is a little spotty. Some scenes looked really grainy with a lot of noise in them. The audio however is among the best I have ever heard. There is a scene in which the group is at a posh nightclub, and the pounding bass heavy music such places typify is expertly captured on this disc. Despite the heavy bass, the vocals were quite clear and not a struggle to hear. Great movie!
Rating:
Summary: Good film with one glaring plot hole
Review: The one problem I had with this film is simply this: would a convicted felon facing a 7 year sentence be allowed to walk freely unsupervised, and drive himself to prison? Maybe I'm missing something, but that doesn't seem realistic.
If you can get past this annoyance, and the completely unnnecessary racist anti-New York diatribe scene which is out of place, the film isn't bad. Spike Lee already covered this ground in "Do the Right Thing"
Not bad, but could have used a little more editing.
Rating:
Summary: *Almost* redeems "Bamboozled" --
Review: "25th Hour" is probably Spike Lee's best film since "Do The Right Thing." He keeps things reasonably low-key, letting the power of the story speak for itself until the inevitable Spike Lee Moment--Monty's infamous love/hate letter to NYC, still far more effective than it should be thanks to Norton's delivery--and largely avoiding his favorite themes. Even the determinedly post-9/11 scenes and dialogue are tastefully done, and serve as a metanarrative that is constantly played against Monty's story to remind us of the personal Ground Zeroes that we all have to face sometime. Norton is one of the strongest conflicted-wimp leads out there right now, and he manages to hold our attention in every frame in the same mysterious way that he usually does. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper play off of each nicely as Norton's no-longer-compatible best friends, and lovely Rosario Dawson breaks our hearts several times over as the did-she-or-didn't-she girlfriend. Anna Paquin is the same little tart that she has been all of her career--not that there's anything wrong with that. The ending, taken almost directly from the book, is especially powerful and will be on your mind for days. This is a very effective film, and easily one of the best of 2002.
Rating:
Summary: 5-Stars Two Thumbs Up!--- Ben N. At The Movies
Review: Edward Norton proves himself to be more than an actor a man who acts but acts as if he isnt acting he acts so straight forward that it instantly draws you into his story....in this case he is a drug dealer named Monty who is waiting for his big score when he is ratted out and the F.B.I give out a warrent search in his appartment Surprisely Monty doesnt even think the F.B.I agent wouldnt even think of going into the sofa where the stash is hid but under every surprise theres a dark shadow behind it and within seconds Monty in Convicted of a Drug-Dealer and thats when his friends decide to throw a last night party for him as he leaves the next day to go to a 7-year term at prison...this movie brings everything that a spike-lee film should have) good cast, and a suspenseful storyline this is two thumbs up great film watch it today Ben N. At The Movies
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