Review of 25th Hour (2002) by Sasho M — 23 Jun 2013

Hauntingly brilliant piece of cinema from a filmmaker that I'm not particularly fond of.

For a film that was based on a book written for pre-9/11 New York City, director Spike Lee and screenwriter David Benioff integrated this tragedy into the story, which I can argue that it helped add to the bleakness and the tone of the film, especially during the opening titles. Although, to be fair, the tone of the film is helped by Terence Blanchard's spine chilling original score.

The performances of the actors are all down to Earth and simple, but in a good way. Despite being a notorious criminal, Edward Norton's Montgomery Brogan is played very sympathetically. His friends Jakub and Frank, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper respectively, are also showcased and are played very well, both going through their own character's problems while at the same time collectively dealing with their friend going away for 7 years.

The cinematography and the editing also add to the bleak tone of this picture. With the grainy look and bleach bypass performed to the picture.

All in all, this is in my Top 10 favorite Films of all time list, and like I mentioned earlier, I am not a fan of Spike Lee (although I can respect his earlier films Do The Right Thing and Bamboozled), however, his direction of this film was on par with brilliance, and why 25th hour was ignored by the Academy Awards I'll never know. All I can hope is that they are kicking themselves with this oversight. Overall: 4/4 stars.

-K.