Over the past eight years, Black America's silver-screen champion Spike Lee has been incredibly prolific, directing and producing an average two films per year. However in those eight years, hardly any of his new work has reached Irish shores.

His latest work, The 25^th Hour is an adaptation of David Benioff's bestseller with a cast that includes Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Magnolia), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) and Rosario Dawson (Kids, Trigger Happy) alongside Edward Norton. It is receiving a wider release than much of his recent work however, and reaches Irish screens on the 23^rd of May. There are a number of reasons for this favourable distribution. No doubt the first is Ed Norton who plays the starring role of Monty Brogan, a drug dealer 24 hours from prison. Another reason would be that the film is proclaimed an ode to New York and has received considerable attention in the wake of September 11^th. The film was underway prior to the manmade disaster in question, but Lee felt it would be both foolish and irresponsible to avoid alluding to that defining moment in New York history.

Allude he does, in a single scene in which Jacob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Francis Xavier Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) discuss the bleak future facing their best friend, Monty Brogan. In that single and powerful scene, one gets the sense that The 25^th Hour is going to be a parable about the recklessness of American foreign policy, and the need to make amends. Unfortunately, this idea is not developed further.

The issue of making amends, of taking responsibility for what one has done is central to the film however. Each of the main characters has their own subplot, their own dilemma and guilty thoughts to deal with. Each of them does so in their own manner: one knows what is right and simply sets the guilty thoughts aside, another plays games to figure out what's right, the last knows its wrong, but can't help himself.

Edward Norton pulls off a good performance, though it is merely middle-of-the-road for him. Rosario Dawson, playing his girlfriend, does much the same; she is charming, pretty and warm, but lacks depth. Barry Pepper on the other hand is a revelation as the poor kid who made it rich, the go-getter with a strong sense of loyalty and honest too, maybe even too honest. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a disappointment though. He has shown exceptional talent particularly as a supporting actor, in films such as Magnolia and Boogie Nights. His rich Jew with a guilt complex is not unconvincing, but lacks that something extra that has previously made Hoffman famous. Brian Cox also appears, playing Monty's dad, an ex-fireman running an Irish bar. Once again he excels, this time as a caring, angry and guilty father.

The 25^th Hour is not as smooth, coherent or accomplished as some of Spike Lee's earlier films, such as She's Gotta Have It or Do The Right Thing. It is caught between demonstration and contemplation, it does both very well but they do not sit very well side-by-side. It is nonetheless a worthwhile and thoughtful film.
 
The 25^th Hour opens nationwide on the 23^rd of May.
Cert: 18