25th Hour (2002)

The first movie of my life that I didn't end it cause it was horrible and very very boring with stupid dialogues

(Originally reviewed: 11/04/2017) Spike Lee's direction is brilliant, in this compelling take on what a man really goes through 24 hours before he goes to prison; the film is impressively shot, well-paced and extremely well-acted; among the great performances are Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson and Brian Cox. 25th hour's ending is also terrific, and most surprising, breaking through conventional film endings, and showcasing a worthy end with craftsmanship, originality and skill. Here is a picture that has earned the right to be called a masterpiece, it's that good.

What would YOU do if you had one day free, before you spent the next seven years in the clink? If you're Edward Norton you say a last goodbye to your family, take your dog for a walk, go on an all-night bender with your buddies... And find out who set you up to take the fall, that's what. After all, we're not talking about UK style holiday accommodation here. It's 200 men to a cell, hard labour every day and the most basic food you can imagine. Of course, we could NEVER think of implementing such a barbaric regime over here. After all, even hardened criminals have RIGHTS. (Thanks, EU) So we follow our future jailbird as he seeks to repair broken relationships, put things in order and basically have a funtastic final fling before his extended expulsion from society. It's engaging material, the sub plots involving his two best friends (One an egotistical stockbroker, the other a neurotic teacher) hit the target too. One day is a short time to base a film around though, and even with all the constant flashbacks about how he got in this situation, the story does have a tendency to drag. Some of the dialogue can be over melodramatic, too.Still worth a watch, but NOT the masterpiece some are proclaiming it to be... 6/10

Long, slow, verbose, deadly boring movie with no action, no twists whatsoever. The scenario relies on nothing really interesting, there is no plot, you just follow the last, highly unproductive 24 hours of freedom of this criminal, from meeting to meeting, interspersed with flashbacks more uninteresting one from another. The direction is not inspired at all and even plain bad if you consider the numerous, intentional it seems, continuity errors throughout the movie. Choose a random director and the 25th Hour would be a complete flop, but Spike Lee, apparently still a critics and audience favorite, gets away with it.