25th Hour (2002) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the film, 25th Hour.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe.  New content dropping every week.   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee:  https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e   Daily Motion:  https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation   Help Support Me At:  https://www.PayPal.me/beaucarter91

Transcript

00:00hey everyone welcome back to another cult movie review with me beau here on the film scene

00:19investigation channel i hope everyone out there is doing good in today's review i'm going to be

00:26taking a look at the 2002 spike lee drama 25th hour before we get into it guys as always if you

00:35haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated

00:42so 25th hour from 2002 was directed by the acclaimed director spike lee and was based on

00:51the novel by author david benioff after purchasing the rights to the novel actor toby mcguire had

01:00originally intended to star in the project before he left to film spider-man actor ed norton would

01:08then step in and help finance the project toby mcguire would stay on as a producer and norton

01:16took the lead role what i found interesting was that 25th hour was the very first american movie

01:24to incorporate the 9-11 attacks as it was filmed right after the event director spike lee then decided

01:34to incorporate the tragedy into the film's narrative as the film was set in present-day new york

01:41and the enormity of the event would have been too big to ignore now i'll be totally honest here and say

01:51that spike lee as a director i've uh yeah i've never really rated him totally understand that he has

02:00some you know legendary status he's this acclaimed filmmaker but for me it's never been warranted

02:08now in fairness i haven't seen all of spike lee's work so over time my opinion of course could change

02:17but from what i have seen so far yes he's a competent director but i still don't think he's

02:27you know anything special anyways due to my lack of interest in spike lee's career and filmography

02:35this movie 25th hour completely flew under my radar i was completely unaware of the film until a friend

02:43mentioned it to me so yeah it was a nice surprise to stumble upon it and what really hooked me was the

02:50cast it was an all-star lineup with ed norton barry pepper and a pat quinn philip seymour hoffman

02:58and the legendary brian cox once i saw the cast especially seeing philip seymour hoffman an actor

03:07that i've admired over the years i made it a priority to check it out so the film followed

03:14the character monty a new york drug dealer played by actor ed norton monty was this long-term dealer

03:23who had become quite successful over the years but like a lot of criminals he eventually got caught

03:31agents from the dea randomly showed up one day at monty's apartment and began to search for drugs

03:40it didn't take long for the agents to stumble upon a kilo of heroin that was stuffed in monty's sofa

03:49the fact that the agents were so quick to find the heroin made monty realized that actually

03:58they'd been tipped off and this whole thing was a setup monty had been double-crossed by someone close

04:06to him giving information to the dea and when i think about it the dea weren't going to waste time

04:16acquiring a warrant unless they had some hard evidence to go on which in this case they did

04:23monty would be arrested but before any conviction the dea tried to get some names out of him since

04:33he was so well connected with other drug dealers he certainly thought about it knowing that

04:40if he gave some people up it may reduce his prison time but ultimately monty decided to not give up

04:51anyone which only compounded his situation due to the large amount of heroin and striking no deal with

05:00the dea monty was sentenced to seven years in prison the main part of the story then focused on monty

05:09during his last day of freedom spending it with friends and family before handing himself in to

05:16authorities monty was in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend natural who was played by rosario

05:24dawson and his biggest fear was that he would lose her to someone else while he was behind bars

05:33he was deeply in love with her and naturally he felt concerned that she would find someone else

05:42once he was locked away we were introduced to the characters frank and jacob two of monty's closest

05:51friends it was clear that all three men had drifted apart over the years living their own separate lives

06:01but due to monty's impending incarceration everyone made a concerned effort to reconnect before it was

06:11too late so there were a couple of interesting scenes that i want to mention the first was the scene in which

06:21jacob and frank met at his fancy apartment the two met for the first time in years and they shared a

06:31beer together while they looked outside the window at ground zero now this was a great scene and one of

06:37my favorites in the entire film just the way in which it was executed with the actors overlooking the

06:45destruction of the world trade center frank and jacob would reminisce about old times before bringing up

06:54monty's impending incarceration now philip seymour hoffman and barry pepper are two very talented actors and a scene like this

07:05really showed their ability the back and forth between the actors felt so authentic as if they were indeed

07:16long time friends the natural pauses in between sentences allowed the scene to breathe it felt very

07:25natural and having frank and jacob reminisce about their past while overseeing the destruction of the world

07:35trade center was absolutely no coincidence seeing the destruction of the twin towers was actually intended as a

07:44reminder to the audience of imminent change you see the twin towers had collapsed and there was no going

07:51back the world had to come to terms with what had happened similar to how monty had to come to terms with

08:01losing his freedoms i also found it interesting that during the conversation between frank and jacob it was

08:10mentioned that the air in and around ground zero was bad to breathe this was due to the fact that the twin

08:18towers were indeed riddled with asbestos before they collapsed in september 2001 yet frank dismissed this

08:28well in reality it turned out to be true as many first responders have died following 9-11 the exposure to

08:38harmful toxins led to many respiratory issues so yeah just a um a very ugly foreshadowing

08:50there was another great scene between frank and monty at the nightclub where they discussed their future

08:58through their conversation it was clear that monty was genuinely scared about going to prison

09:06you could see the despair in his eyes and that was all down to the fact that he really was concerned

09:14for his safety the fact that he was going to be incarcerated for such a long time

09:20yeah it really got to him i mean he was not only scared about losing his girlfriend but he was genuinely

09:28frightful that he may be killed in prison throughout the movie monty had actually you know put on a brave

09:36face and tried to i guess convince himself that everything was going to be okay but in this scene

09:45the mask slipped barry pepper's character frank did his best to reassure monty and convince him that

09:53things would indeed be okay but yeah it didn't really help once again just some

10:01great back and forth between actors and yeah you really got a sense of friendship between the two

10:08and when it comes to this movie one of its main strengths is indeed the strong acting performances it was a

10:18really good ensemble cast that allowed all the actors to shine individually and yeah there was no real poor

10:29performance ed norton of course was the standout and for me this is one of his best roles following american

10:38history x his character was completely wrapped up in guilt over getting caught and the damaging effects

10:48it would have on his friends and family the monologue that monty delivered to himself in the restaurant

10:57bathroom was once again a brilliant scene really showcased ed norton's talent we saw the character

11:06lash out against minorities the decline in living standards and corporate greed amongst other things

11:14but as much as monty hated the world he hated himself even more for getting caught and ruining his life

11:25some very offensive dialogue that actually exposed some ugly truths a very intense scene and yeah one of my

11:38favorite ed norton performances and so dislikes for 25th hour from 2002 my biggest dislike for the film would

11:48have to be the comedy that was inserted into the film so throughout 25th hour there were some moments of

11:58light-hearted humor and to be honest i uh i found it pretty tedious monty's story was very compelling a guy that

12:10was looking at seven years imprisonment away from his family and his friends he was scared for his own safety and you know that was what was keeping my

12:20interest while watching the film the unfolding drama about what monty might do next you know that was intriguing but adding these

12:31these comedy elements just yeah it wasn't needed perhaps the director spike lee thought the movie needed

12:39some moments of levity but for me it just didn't really mix well for example the whole subplot

12:48between anna paquin's character mary a student and jacob the high school teacher for me was uh yeah very wasteful

12:59mary was this young upstart college student who seemed to always be up for a good time we saw her

13:08complain about her grades to an otherwise uncomfortable jacob and thus the comedy ensued the two would

13:18later end up kissing at the nightclub and uh yeah i i could care less philip seymour hoffman was a brilliant

13:25actor and while of course he could do comedy i would have preferred him having a more straight-laced

13:33performance and actually thinking about it these pointless moments just added to a very increased

13:42runtime that didn't need to be this film was overly long and there really should have been a tighter

13:50final cut and so ratings for 25th hour from 2002 i'm going to be rating this movie a solid

14:015 out of 10. 25th hour was a solid drama from director spike lee that almost acted as a love letter to

14:12new york city with the inclusion of the 9 11 tragedy the film definitely had this um quite bleak and

14:20depressing undertone there was a subplot around who was responsible for tipping off the dea but i am

14:30glad that the film continued to focus on the personal drama between the characters rather than a

14:36who done it scenario ed norton is the best part of this movie and considering his character was actually

14:46a shady drug dealer norton did a great job in making us the audience feel some empathy towards his character

14:57if you've seen 25th hour let me know your thoughts in the comments section below for those who haven't i would

15:05indeed recommend it if you're a fan of spike lee or ed norton uh this is definitely a film that you will

15:13like and well that's all from me today guys i really hope you've enjoyed this review of 25th hour

15:19i'll be back next week don't forget to like and subscribe and of course take care

15:35so

15:43you

15:45you

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