25th Hour is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton.

25th Hour opened to positive reviews, with several critics since having ranked it as one of the best films of its decade and praising its portrayal of New York City after the September 11 attacks.

Opening credits roll with shots of the Tribute in Light floodlights reaching into the sky from the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

On his last day of freedom, he walks the city with Doyle, the dog he rescued, and visits his old high school, where he played varsity basketball as a freshman.

Later, he plans to meet childhood friends at a club — Frank Slaugherty , a boorish Wall Street trader, Jacob Elinsky, an introverted high school teacher, and his live-in girlfriend, Naturelle Riviera.

DEA agents raid Monty's apartment and, knowing where to look, quickly find the drugs he was selling for Uncle Nikolai, a Russian mobster.

Facing himself in the mirror, Monty lashes out in his mind against New York ethnic groups, against corporate criminals, and against Osama bin Laden before finally turning on himself for stupidly not giving up his drug business before he was caught.

Frank refuses, but Monty goads him into taking out his frustrations, and is left bruised and bloody, with a broken nose.

On the drive to prison in upstate New York, Monty again sees a parade of faces from the streets of the city.

As they drive up the Henry Hudson Parkway, James suggests they take the George Washington Bridge to go west, into hiding, and gives Monty a vision of a future where he avoids imprisonment, reunites with Naturelle, starts a family, and grows old.

Six months before that a preliminary trade copy was circulated; actor and producer Tobey Maguire read it and became interested in playing the lead role of Monty Brogan.

[5][4] However, after the script was written, Maguire had become too deeply involved with the Spider-Man film to take on another acting job.

[11] A. O. Scott,[12] Richard Roeper[13] and Roger Ebert all placed it on their respective lists for best films of the 2000 decade.