“This script is so good it makes me want to go and read the book... it’s one heck of a film.”
25th Hour was a drama film that was released in 2002, directed by Spike Lee, written by David Benioff, and starring Edward Norton as Monty Brogan, as well as Philip Seymour Hoffman as Jacob Elinsky, Barry Pepper as Frank Slaughtery, and Rosario Dawson as Naturelle Riviera. It is ultimately about a convicted New York City drug dealer spending his very last 24 hours of freedom hanging out with his childhood buddies, talking with his father, and sorting things out with his girlfriend before he has to go to federal prison for a long seven-year sentence... all while he looks back at the mistakes that ruined his life, worries about surviving behind bars, and secretly wonders if the woman he loves was actually the one who turned him in to the cops.
I chose this film to be the next part of my 52-Week Movie Challenge under the prompt for Week #8: A Drama Directed by Spike Lee. I was definitely curious about this one because Spike Lee is definitely a director I have more of a blindspot with than most directors. The only other films of his that I’ve seen before were Inside Man, the American remake of Oldboy, BlacKkKlansman, and of course a few music videos featuring Michael Jackson... but other than that, I haven’t seen the biggest movies in his filmography, and I still haven’t. I knew a couple of his biggest movies are Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X. I almost chose the latter before I saw the runtime of Malcolm... three and a half hours of anything is too long for the most part. My focus then went to, maybe Do the Right Thing, but reading up on it... I wasn’t sure if I’d love it or not. So, I went to a friend for a recommendation, seeing as they know me. They have a good idea of my tastes, and they said... go for 25th Hour. So, here I am, and yeah... this movie is solid.
The very first thing I think anyone is going to find with this film is that it’s got a tremendous script. The first name that popped up in my head when people began to talk was... well... Aaron Sorkin, who has a way with words and how they come together... that is just so alluring. It’s what made The West Wing such an impeccable show, but he has gone on to do other things like The Social Network, The Newsroom, and other materials that just scream perfection on the writer’s desk. Same goes here. However, Sorkin didn’t write 25th Hour. This film was adapted from David Benioff’s debut novel of the same name, and Benioff also wrote the screenplay for this. This script is so good it makes me want to go and read the book. What’s crazy, though... is that Benioff will go on to write the screenplay for X-Men Origins: Wolverine... and I feel like I’m in an alternate dimension because WHAT?
Past that, you obviously have some really great casting going on here with some extremely good performances. The cinematography is always impressive with long, lingering one-shots as these people carry on their long-winded conversations, and the editing at a few central aspects did things I wasn’t expecting. Small, trivial moments where it will cut back, and replay the same action again a second later, at a slightly different angle. I believe this was meant as more of a poetic psychological analogy because as human beings, we often replay moments in our life. Sometimes we do it on purpose because we want to relive them, and sometimes we relive moments out of shame and embarrassment... and there are just these small moments that randomly do this glitch, this record scratch that isn’t a big deal, but is also hard to miss. I liked that artistic choice.
Narratively, I would say this film is a lot more metaphorical and psychological than anything else. It’s more of a character study than something with a great plot. After all, if you notice, not much happens other than a few people talking the entire time, but their talking is just really good. It’s enrapturing. It’s human, it’s flawed, it’s relatable. You care about these people, and the first scene of the film showcases Edward Norton’s change in philosophy. The first thing he does is he wants to shoot a dog to put it out of its misery, and then he decides against that and he ends up taking the dog to a vet, fixing him up, and being best pals with the thing. That one scene mirrors what the rest of the movie ends up becoming. It’s one heck of a film. If I had any complaints at all, it would just be the movie is very dark? It’s grungy and gritty. It has a look about it that I think is overkill and unnecessary for the most part. I did get into the groove of what it was doing over time, but that wasn’t needed.
Unbiased/Technical Score: 46/50 or 92%
Biased/Entertainment Score: 46/50 or 92%
Total Combined Score: 92/100 or 92% (or 4.5/5 on Letterboxd)
As far as my ranking goes for this challenge, I have this in 2nd place, just under Prisoners by 1%, which was a thriller starring Hugh Jackman.