Product Description

Academy Award(R)-nominee Edward Norton (Best Actor, 1999, AMERICAN HISTORY X) heads an amazing all-star cast in the critically acclaimed Spike Lee (SUMMER OF SAM, DO THE RIGHT THING) film 25th HOUR. In 24 short hours Monty Brogan (Norton) goes to prison for seven long years. Once a king of Manhattan, Monty is about to say good-bye to the life he knew -- a life that opened doors to New York's swankest clubs but also alienated him from the people closest to him. In his last day on the outside, Monty tries to reconnect with his father (Brian Cox, THE BOURNE IDENTITY), and gets together with two old friends, Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman, ALMOST FAMOUS) and Slaughtery (Barry Pepper, THE GREEN MILE). And then there's his girlfriend, Naturelle (Rosario Dawson, MEN IN BLACK 2), who might (or might not) have been the one who tipped off the cops. Monty's not sure of much these days, but with time running out, there are choices to be made as he struggles to redeem himself in the 25th hour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6293 in DVD
• Brand: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2003-05-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 135 minutes

Amazon.com
25th Hour is a eulogy, mourning the New York of post-September 11, 2001, and the regrettable life of one of the city's least reputable citizens. Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) isn't a bad guy--in fact he's a mensch, adopting a battered dog in the film's mood-setting opening scene, and leading a decent life with his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson)... when he's not dealing narcotics. Facing a seven-year prison term, Monty spends his last free night with pals (Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman) and visiting his understanding father (Brian Cox), while a Russian drug lord pressures him for getting busted. Lee directs this plotless, no-win scenario as the last gasp of a guy with nowhere to go, and the film (written by David Benioff, from his own novel) suffers from a similar loss of potential, lacking enough focus to make Monty's odyssey compelling. Instead, 25th Hour (which also costars Anna Paquin) rambles from scene to lazy scene, vaguely lamenting that lives have been wasted, some by terrorism, others by self-destruction. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A thirtyish drug dealer (Edward Norton) who is too smart for his situation gets pinched and sentenced to seven years in prison. His imminent departure produces a crisis in the lives of his best friends, a cynical Wall Street trader (Barry Pepper) and a schlubby private-school teacher (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The movie might be described as a turbulent elegy for the burnt-out hopes of a generation. There's a thriller plot buried in the material, but it's done half-heartedly. The glory of the movie is its talk-the profane New York verve of the three men, suffused with a post-September 11th bitterness. David Benioff adapted his own novel, and Spike Lee directed. Brian Cox plays the hero's father, and Rosario Dawson his girlfriend. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Criminals are always playing spin the bottle and sooner or later it is going to point to the ugly.
One of the many things that make 25th hour such a special film to me is how Benioff and Lee didn't attempt to cram too many events into this plot. This film does take place in just one day, and it's a perfect snapshot of the lead protagonist Monty Brogan's thoughts and actions in that final day before he begins a 7 year jail sentence for dealing heroin, expertly put together by David Benioff and Spike Lee. We see Brogan (superbly played by Edward Norton) walking his dog, talking to his girlfriend, having a meal with his father, going out to a club with his friends, preparing to go to jail and being driven there. It's not over the top, it isn't brash, but it does do what is necessary.

Brogan is clearly worried and regretful. This is faultlessly portrayed by the mirror scene, in which he rants incessantly about the variety of people populating New York, and then realizes that he only has himself to blame for the situation he is in. It's such a human moment, since how many people can honestly say that they have never chosen to blame others, and take their anger out in a vicious way, even if it is just personal thoughts? But it isn't just Monty who feels regret, virtually every other character we focus on does, Monty's father is weighed down by his former alcoholism, and he partly holds himself responsible for Monty's fate. And so do Monty's friends, not preventing him from his choice to deal drugs.

Monty Brogan is not really shown in a 'good' or 'bad' light. Norton plays him as a normal person. He's easy to relate to, and it's a reminder of how anyone can turn out depending on what choices they make. His choice of drug dealing is looked down upon, the interrogators ridicule him, but that is only in the context of drug dealing, not as a normal person. Benioff and Lee were keen to show his actions like this.

The film is skillfully made, from the very tasteful opening credit scene acknowledging 9/11 (another honest feature about the film, which is an important theme throughout), where we see the lights at ground zero dropping from the sky, to the fantasy scene with Monty and his father in the car near the end, where they think about the family he could have had, all surreally dressed in while. Terence Blanchard's score too is one of the most beautiful I've heard in a recent film along with Michael Andrews score for Donnie Darko - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition). The film tells it like it is. It's about decision making, it's about responsibility and it's about real friendship. It's realistic on an emotional level and is now one of my favorite Spike Lee Joints.

Lee and Benioff Make Neo Noir Classic
Spike Lee's film of Michael Benioff's novel 25th Hour is one of the strongest of the neo-noir films of the last few years, and one of the few films to address the corruption of dealing drugs and the breakdown of culture symbolized by the WTC site. Edward Norton plays Montgomery Brogan, a heroin dealer who must report to the Otisville Federal Prison in the morning. Monty's life until this point has been a dream; he lives with a beautiful woman, drives a cool car, and gets into all the clubs, but financing this life is heroin and the Russian Mafia.

Edward Norton gives a typical strong performance - I'd love to see him and Johnny Depp in a film - making Monty a rich character who understands his own self-delusions. Barry Pepper and the ever wonderful Phillip Hoffman play Monty's more conventional friends, Slattery and Alinsky, the former a Wall-Street cowboy, and the latter a repressed English teacher in love with one of his students. Rosanna Dawson plays Monty's woman with understated power and sorrow.

Monty's final day of freedom plays out in clubs, parks, bars, and his memories, which Spike Lee weaves seamlessly in and out of the narrative, sparing us a moralistic explanation for Monty, a nice boy, ending up becoming a drug dealer, but showing us instead the parts of Monty's life that mean something to him: finding an abused pit bull, meeting Naturale, getting busted and interrogated by arrogant DEA agents.

The rant that Monty gives to his reflection is right out of David Benioff's book, nearly word-for-word, so stop blaming Spike Lee, and besides it's a great set piece, expressing Monty's self-loathing at the city which will go on despite him. Lee follows up this tour-de-force with all the people Monty cursed waving good-bye to him as he leaves New York, one of the most wonderful cinematic poems I've seen.

Monty is himself the City, broken, confused, and angry; beautiful, Monty wants to make himself ugly to protect himself from gang rape in prison, and he calls on his friends Slattery and Alinsky to beat him, horrifying them both.

Again, the flight of fantasy at the end of the film is right out of Benioff's book and not something Spike Lee made up, although Lee often extends the ends of his films (see Mo' Better Blues and Clockers), so Benioff's novel was right in keeping with Lee's style.

This is one of Spike Lee's best films, and it was totally disregarded at the box office, probably people want to pigeonhole Lee. But like all great artists, Spike Lee can transcend himself. I believe 25th Hour will be remembered as a great American film in the years to come.

Note: I would recommend you read David Benioff's novel, but the film is taken right from the book with few amendations, and those small changes - emphasizing 9/11, making Monty's father a fireman - improve Benioff's book.

One of the best movies I have seen.
I am not a big fan of Spike Lee and I do not usually write reviews for movies. But after watching this film, I was inspired to do so. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Edward Norton plays his role to perfection. His supporting cast does an excellent job at bringing out his exceptional acting skills. The few montage sequences in the film were humerous as well as though-provoking. This is one of those movies that will stay in your mind long after you view it. I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good drama. I have a new found respect for Spike Lee.