25th Hour

This page is about the film. For the fictional island, see Abarat.

25th Hour
File:25th hour (movie).jpg 25th Hour DVD cover
Directed by	Spike Lee
Written by	David Benioff
Produced by	Julia Chasman Jon Kilik Spike Lee Tobey Maguire
Starring	Edward Norton Philip Seymour Hoffman Barry Pepper Rosario Dawson Brian Cox Anna Paquin
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date	16 December 2002
Running time	135 minutes
Language	English
Budget	US$15,000,000

25th Hour is a 2002 Spike Lee film based on David Benioff's novel The 25th Hour. The cast includes Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Brian Cox and Anna Paquin. Norton plays Montgomery "Monty" Brogan, a convicted drug dealer who has one last day of freedom before beginning a seven-year prison sentence.

Synopsis

The film begins with Brogan and Kostya saving a dog that he found abandoned in the street. And as he drives away, the opening credits roll. The film then cuts to the present (we don't know how many years it has been) and Brogan is walking the streets of New York with Doyle (the dog he saved). He goes to his old school where he meets up with his teacher friend Jacob Elinsky (Hoffman) and talks to him about the party tonight. Elinksy then calls Frank Slattery(Pepper) who is working as a Wall Street trader.

Brogan then goes home to his girlfriend Naturelle (Dawson) and they discuss the fact that this is his last night before prison. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that Brogan has been busted for being a drug dealer, and he is looking at 7 years in Ottisville prison.

Brogan visits his father (Cox) at his Irish Pub in Staten Island, and his father blames himself for Monty getting into the position he's in. Monty goes to the bathroom and sees "Fuck you" written on a mirror. His reflection begins to talk to him in a "Fuck Everybody" rant against New York City. This rant takes in everybody including the homeless, the Blacks, the Jews, the NYPD, the Church, Greenwich Village homosexuals, the Italians, the rich Upper East Side wives, the Russians, the Koreans, Pakistani and Sikh taxi drivers, Wall Street brokers, the Puerto Ricans, the Dominicans and Osama Bin Laden. He then rants against his friends, his girlfriend and his father. But then Brogan looks at his reflection and confronts him saying, "Fuck you, Montgomery Brogan. You had it all and you threw it away, you DUMB FUCK!" Brogan and his father then discuss whether it was Naturelle who tipped off the police about him.

Jacob goes to Frank's Apartment and as they both look over Ground Zero, they both talk about Monty going to prison. Jacob can't believe it's happening but Frank claims that he deserves it because he's become rich through the misery of other people. He then says that after tonight, they'll never see him again. Jacob and Frank go to a Chinese restaurant and they both confront each other about how they don't live in reality. Frank spends his working hours figuring out how to defraud foreign governments and then when he gets out of his office he doesn't know how to behave. Jacob is ashamed of his wealth and goes around unhappy all the time because he was born rich. They both meet Brogan and Naturelle at a bar before going to a club.

File:The 25th hour poster.jpg

Promotional poster of the film

At the club, Jacob runs into one of his students, Mary (Paquin) who we see before complaining to Jacob about the grade of one of her English papers. She goes with them into the club. Monty asks Jacob if he will take care of Doyle while he's in prison and Jacob accepts. Monty and Frank discuss how he got to this position and what will happen to him in prison, and Frank promises him that when he gets out he'll be there and they'll open a bar together. Frank and Naturelle also discuss how Monty got to this position, but Frank accuses her of not doing anything because she got used to a fancy life. He then insinuates that it might have been her who tipped off the cops. Monty and his partner Kostya then go to speak to a group of Russian mobsters, run by Uncle Nikolai. Nikolai gives Monty some tips on how to survive in prison. Then it is revealed that it was Kostya who sold Monty out. Monty decides to leave, asserting that he'll never come back.

While all this is happening, Jacob and Mary kiss, but then Jacob decides it is a bad idea and then he leaves.

They all leave the club and Monty, Jacob and Frank go to a park, where Monty gives Doyle to Jacob. Monty then gets Frank to make him look ugly by beating him up, saying that it's all about the first day and if he goes in looking ugly he might have a chance to survive. Frank does it reluctantly, giving Monty a black eye and a lot of cuts and bruises to his face, and then Monty goes home.

Monty's Dad arrives and says that he'll take him to Ottisville. While Jacob and Frank are still at the park reflecting on all that has happened, Monty is on his way to prison. On the way he looks out of his window and sees all the people who he ranted against standing along the road smiling at him. He then sees a boy on the bus and they write each others names on the windows.

As they come to the George Washington Bridge, Monty's Dad says that if he wants it, he will make a left turning and they will leave New York. Monty's Dad's idea is that they leave New York and drive through the desert until they find a town. They'll have one last drink together and then he will go back to New York. Monty will make a new life for himself. He'll get a job at a bar, and he'll get himself the right papers. He'll never come back to New York, never call and never write. But after a couple of years, he'll send word to Naturelle. She'll come to live with him and they'll have a family. Then many years later, Monty will gather his whole family together and he'll tell them the whole story and who he is and where he comes from. Then he'll ask them if they know how lucky they are to be here, because it came so close to never happening.

The film cuts back to the present, with Monty with all the cuts and bruises on his face, seemingly asleep. They've just passed the George Washington Bridge. The dream is over.

Differences between the novel and the film

There is one important difference between novel and movie. In the novel, it is clear from the outset that Monty was not caught selling drugs, but that the police were given a tip-off. In the novel he knows that his business partner tricked him: "It took you this long to figure it out? They touched him, and he had two strikes. Nothing very complicated about it." (Benioff: 179)

In the movie, however, Monty is unsure whether Kostya or his girlfriend Naturelle betrayed him. Thus Monty’s search for the betrayer becomes a key plot element in the film. Only at the end of the night, after he gets matters settled with the Russian mobsters, they inform him that it was Kostya who tipped him off.

In addition, the novel is set during winter and it is snowing, but due to scheduling conflicts and money constraints Spike Lee was forced to shoot the movie without snow.

Trivia

• In the scene in which the three friends meet up in the bar, the father of David Benioff appears as an extra sitting at a table.
• Brittany Murphy, who was originally cast in Anna Paquin's role, was fired from the film after failing to attend rehearsals.
• Brogan was originally planned to be played by Tobey Maguire, but Maguire decided to pull out to star in Spider-Man, however he remained on as a producer.

Principal Cast

Actor	Role
Edward Norton	Monty Brogan
Philip Seymour Hoffman	Jacob Elinsky
Barry Pepper	Frank Slaughtery
Rosario Dawson	Naturelle Riviera
Anna Paquin	Mary D'Annunzio
Brian Cox	James Brogan
Tony Siragusa	Kostya Novotny
Levan Uchaneishvili	Uncle Nikolai (as Levani)
Tony Devon	Agent Allen
Misha Kuznetsov	Senka Valghobek
Isiah Whitlock Jr.	Agent Flood
Michael Genet	Agent Cunningham
Patrice O'Neal	Khari
Al Palagonia	Salvatore Dominick
Aaron Stanford	Marcuse
Dania Ramirez	Daphne

External links

• 25th Hour at IMDb