"25th Hour" is a very compelling and interesting movie to watch for several reasons, not the least of which are very good performances of each of the actors in this vignette of the last day of freedom for "Monty" (Ed Norton's character) before reporting to prison to serve a seven year term (for drug dealing in New York City).
Many of the previous comments have focused on a few tangential issues, some of which can be addressed. Standing on it's own, "25th Hour" is quite interesting for its "insiders'" views of New York City, where the characters live and work, and the storyline of what Monty does before heading off to the penitentiary, and the gruesome fate which may await him there. There are two sub-plots: the issue of who actually turned Monty in to the DEA (Federal Drug Enforcement Administration)precipitating these events, and whether or not Monty will actually go through with reporting to prison for his sentence, or instead become a fugitive and disappear.
As the movie takes place in contemporary New York City, references to the attack of September 11th, 2001, and the resulting destruction of the World Trade Center towers play a part in the story. This seems very natural, and in no way exploitive of peoples' patriotism, or pandering to voyeurism. One of Monty's two close boyhood friends (from an Irish working-class neighborhood in Queens or Brooklyn), played by the sniper from "Saving Private Ryan", and the photojournalist from "We Were Soldiers Once" is now some sort of arbitrage trader in the Financial District, and lives downtown in the neighborhood of the WTC site. Lingering shots of the cleared out site are very germaine, particularly as, illustrating the feelings of many New Yorkers, he claims that he will not move because of the threat of "dangerous dust" and would stay even in the building next door was attacked. This theme of New York resilience is central to the story.
Another part of the film which has attracted a lot of attention is a sequence in his father's Staten Island bar, in which Monty's reflection in the men's room mirror launches a diatribe against the various ethnic and sterotypical groups of New York City. Director Spike Lee still has some type of agenda here, and the very close similarity between this tirade, and the ethnic slurs voiced in much the same fashion during a segment of "Do the Right Thing" suggest that this has more to do with Mr. Lee's inner demons rather than advancing the story.
Monty is shown as a "nice guy" but it is also made clear that he is responsible for his situation, though some responsibility is shared by those close to him who were aware of his profession, but benefitted from it indirectly, or just chose to ignore it. A terrible beating administered to Monty near the film's end, encouraged by Monty himself, symbolizes his acceptance of his culpability.
Philip S. Hoffman appears as Monty's other boyhood friend, reprising his role as the pudgy loser, in this case a trust-fund supported private school teacher coming dangerously close to acting on his inappropriate feelings of a 16 year-old female student. The Russian gangsters for whom Monty works as a distributer offer a sinister look into that dark corner of Brooklyn, and also remind us of the violence and death that lurk just beneath the veneer of the affable people, and the profitable world of those who sell drugs for a living (it has to come from somewhere...) There is no sermonizing and no excuse making as the last day winds down. There are one or two surprises to keep the pace interesting, and ultimately it is Monty who does the right thing.
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