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25th Hour By John Morelli 
Its 8:47 and the crowd is growing restless, The couple behind me talks of how they loved a half-witted romantic comedy they saw the other night. To the front, a brain dead moron who secretes his own hair gel speaks of hearsay and putting this on that car and that on this car. Another candidate for assisted suicide at an early age. To the left an elderly couple in a silent panic try to remember exactly how many pills they have taken before they have left, but all goes calm when they begin to taste sound. I, on the other hand, sit idle, an innocent bystander to all of this madness. It is now 8:56 and the crowd grows dumber as more people enter the theatre, they all enter with their pre-concieved notions of what the want to see. One hopefull yells "I love spike lee Y'all!" another is over heard saying " I hope there is a car chase in this motherfucker." I on the other hand....have no pre concieved notion of what this film is and what I am about to see. It is now 9:00 and the lights dim and the yapping crowd does what they have been taught since an early age when the lights go out, ...shut the fuck up!
This film is solid, powerful and a bunch of other adjectives. Edward Norton, turns in another very good preformance as Monty, a recently caught Drug dealer who has one last night as a free man. Backing him up are (the great) Phillip Seymour Hoffman and the surprisingly good Barry Pepper. The love interest is played by Rosario Dawson ( looks very good in this flick). Also tagging along for the ride is Anna Paquin. This is a solid movie as I said before, Spike Lee does a great job of presenting the character Monty in an honest light. He doesnt tell you how to feel about him, he presents him as is, and he is responsible for his actions. This film definately is one of my favorites of 2003 (Fuck you, I saw it in 2003) so I better start my list. If you are thinking of seeing it, it is worth it alone just for the Fuck you Mirror scene and the expression on Phillip Seymour Hoffman's face after coming out of the bathroom. So save your self a shit fest and skip Just Married or Lord Of the Rings and go see a real movie, a movie made of nails and teeth....   4 out of 5 Stars More Movie Reviews 2002 |
