Critique the Critic: 25th Hour

I chose 25th Hour because Spike Lee very realistically portrays a drug dealer (Edward Norton) in his last day before he has to go to jail for 7 years, and the film really makes you think about the choices you make. Forrest Hartman of the Reno Gazette-Journal expresses similar ideas in his review. Towards the end of review he addresses how the film makes you think and how Monty is ultimitely a good guy:

Mostly, however, “25th Hour” is a thought-provoking meditation on human beings, the choices they make and their ability to change. And it sticks with you. Long after the first viewing I found myself mentally revisiting this scene or that one. Lee shows us the world through Brogan’s eyes, explaining the desperation that pushed him in the wrong direction. Ultimately, it’s impossible not to like this man, which is troubling in its own.

Monty Brogan, played by Edward Nortan, will be selling drugs to high school students in one scene and saving a helpless dog's life in another. He is deep-down a good guy but some of the choices that he has made in life are causing him to go to jail for 7 years. The last day before he goes to jail includes him meeting with his father and going to a nightclub for his going away party. Monty is already a changed man before he goes to jail, as he saves Doyle, who later becomes his dog, and you can tell that Monty doesn't deserve to go to jail, regardless of what he did. Spike Lee really stresses the importance of making good decisions in life, and how you could end up like Monty with only a few hours left, regardless of how good of a person you are. One scene that really stuck with me is when Monty has his good friend Frank (Barry Pepper) literally make him look ugly. He is afraid of looking like a handsome young white man in jail for obvious reasons, so he has Frank beat him until he nearly dies. Frank has been claiming to the other minor characters Jakob (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Monty's girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) that Monty deserves every day he is sentenced to in jail because of the fact that he made other people suffer by selling drugs. Frank doesn't want to beat up Monty at first because of their friendship, but Monty notices that Frank thinks he deserves his 7 years in jail and uses this to taunt Frank until Monty pushes him over the edge and he is nearly killed because of it. This is a good example of the realism of the movie, as stated by Hartman:

Too often, movie characters talk in perfectly fashioned sentences and ultra-hip lingo, but not here. These characters are believable, and even actors with bit roles deliver three-dimensional performances.

So many other movies make the hero seem to good to be true, but Monty certainly isn't your stereotyical hero. This is what makes it realistic, because you can apply it to everyday life. Human beings aren't perfect: Monty may be a good man but because of one bad choice he is screwed. All of the actors together make it more realistic, also. The group of people sitting at the nightclub together, including Monty, Frank, Naturelle, Jakob and one of Jakob's students are all exceptional actors and you can really tell that there's a lot of tension going on because of obvious reasons. Monty especially delivers an amazing performance, that reminds me of him in American History X because of his initial ignorance and his ability to change his attidudes drastically over a short amount of time. I would recommend watching 25th hour because you think about life in a much different perspective.