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By
TERESSA ELLIOTT
A Spike Lee film about the
last free twenty four hours drug dealer Monty
Brogan (Edward Norton) gets to spend before going
to prison for seven years: He parties, visits
friends from his past and present, says his
farewells, and discovers the truth about the
person who betrayed him.
The film also stars Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson,
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Brian Cox and all turn
in great performances. The film is part suspense
(who betrayed Monty?), part character study (how
do the characters deal with the clock winding down
to Monty's "seven years of hell" as one character
describes it) and part ode to New York City (the
film is set in a NYC still devastated by 9/11) and
it works on all levels. A great film by a great
filmmaker, "25th Hour" isn't strictly about 9/11,
but it's the best film I've seen on the subject.
Lee has Brogan's despair mirror that of the city
and the effect is haunting and elegiac in the best
way (the film also boasts a wonderful score that
is used very effectively).
The extras are good too -- deleted scenes, two
commentaries (Lee and screenwriter Benioff who
also wrote the novel on which the film is based),
and a featurette that is fittingly more about Lee
than the film itself. Be forewarned though -- the
"Ground Zero tribute" is only a five minute
deleted scene but is worth watching anyway. |
