Film Rap: THE 25TH HOUR w/ David Benioff

25TH HOUR is a eulogy, mourning the New York of post-September 11, 2001, and the regrettable life of one of the city’s least reputable citizens. Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) isn’t a bad guy — in fact he’s a mensch, adopting a battered dog in the film’s mood-setting opening scene, and leading a decent life with his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson)… when he’s not dealing narcotics. Facing a seven-year prison term, Monty spends his last free night with pals (Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman) and visiting his understanding father (Brian Cox), while a Russian drug lord pressures him for getting busted. Lee directs this plotless, no-win scenario as the last gasp of a guy with nowhere to go, and the film (written by David Benioff, from his own novel) suffers from a similar loss of potential, lacking enough focus to make Monty’s odyssey compelling. Instead, 25TH HOUR (which also costars Anna Paquin) rambles from scene to lazy scene, vaguely lamenting that lives have been wasted, some by terrorism, others by self-destruction. –Jeff Shannon

 David Benioff worked as a high school English teacher and club bouncer until he won recognition for his first book, The 25th Hour  - which he later adapted into a film directed by Spike Lee. He adapted the screenplay for TROY, STAY and THE KITE RUNNER, and is currently working on a script for the X-MEN series. City of Thieves is his third book of fiction, and is a tale of two young Russian prisoners in WWII Leningrad, who must find a dozen eggs in the starving war torn city or lose their lives; and so begins an adventure and a friendship that lasts a lifetime.