One of those movies where the cops piss you off and you root for the drug dealer. This is the third time for me;the first two being Tequila Sunrise with Mel Gibson and Blow with Johnny Depp. But Tequila Sunrise is an entertaining romantic thriller so the emotional impact of Blow and 25th Hour are really strong. However empathy only came with 25th Hour. Not put yourselves in the shoes of a drug-dealer, but because you get the pain of a man who has 24 hours before he goes to prison for 7 years.
Monty is a nice,smart guy. He is nice to his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson), his dad, his dog…He even used to be a promising student. But some early events have ended him up in dealing drugs and he was too late to try getting out. Cops bust him and he faces a 7-year-sentence. So the movie takes us on a journey as Monty tries to live his last free day to the fullest.
It is hard to dislike Monty. There are scenes he earns your understanding, sympathy and sometimes even respect. I like the internal conflicts, his relationships and the struggles of his friends.
Freedom is the most precious thing ever and Spike Lee did a great job in engaging us with Monty’s (Edward Norton) story. You like the guy and you feel sorry for him. The movie has some unnecessary scenes involving Monty’s friends’ lives that are not related to Monty and this slows the movie considerably at times but those friends are played by Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman and their acting makes up for it. I still can’t understand why there is even a storyline featuring Anna Paquin’s character. Totally irrelevant.
But overall it is emotional and thought-provoking with fine acting. 7.9 rating on imdb sounds just about right. See it.
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