Review of 25th Hour (2002) by Matthew G — 26 Mar 2014

This movie jumped straight to the top of Spike Lee's filmography for me. Before this, I thought Do The Right Thing would never be surpassed, but I was wrong. That film worked as a sort of parable piece, featuring a wide and colorful cast.

This film, however, takes a interesting character (played wonderfully by Edward Norton) and plunges us into the biggest turning point in his life - settling his accounts with his friends and family before spending the next 7 years in prison.

More than this, it is a story about protesting everything about the world that you hate (shown brilliantly in the much talked about F*** You mirror scene) and coming around to realizing and appreciating those things as aspects of yourself.

It also deals with what it means to be a man. I enjoy this film with the same type of feeling as I did in reading Catcher in the Rye. Edward Norton has a sort of Caulfield No Bullshit personality and suddenly enters an enlightened, floating state as he lives his final 24 hours before his entire world fades away.

He makes love with his girlfriend one last time, he walks his dog, sees his dad, and goes out with his best friends for one last night. By the way, the club scene in this movie is hands down the best club scene I ever seen.

I felt like I was inside this place, and it was popping. Lighting, sound, camera movement, everything. At the end of it all, I left the film feeling like I went through a life changing experience. I had new eyes for the way the world works and the things people do to get by.

Each of the characters had great arcs, and each learned something by the film's end. Even though Monty Brogan inevitably ends up behind bars, he went out with a bang. He'll at least have a lot to digest while he's there.

I couldn't get this film out of my head for days.