25th Hour

The gritty pressure cooker 25th Hour, an up close look at post-9/11 New York, is smartly abetted by a collection of supplements that offers fine insight into the world of its director, incendiary filmmaker Spike Lee. The Evolution of an American Filmmaker, a half-hour featurette produced by Barbara J. Toennies and Lorna Anozie, gives an overview of the director's career and brings forward such Hollywood big guns as Halle Barry and Denzel Washington to comment on the filmmaker. "I told him, throw a few jabs," says Washington about the controversial nature of some of Lee's films. "But he always wanted to throw that big right." Director Martin Scorsese remarks that Lee's work offers "a unique voice. And it's a voice that's needed in American cinema." Lee himself is informative and entertaining in his feature-length commentary, providing insight into many of his stylistic choices in 25th Hour. He also talks about directing someone else's script. "For the most part, I write my own scripts," says Lee. "So when I do something I didn't write, I really have to feel great about it. I have to feel as if I wrote it, as if it's still personal to me." Writer David Benioff, who wrote the screenplay based on his own novel, is just as informative about the adaptation process in his own commentary. Writing hopefuls will glean some knowledge from Benioff as he discusses his first two failed novels and why he believes 25th Hour was a success. A brief tribute to the fallen World Trade Center buildings, Ground Zero, unspools 10 minutes of footage of the site and various memorials to those who died all set to background music. Six deleted scenes round out the supplementals, and they're worth checking out. The deleted scene "Sway" could have been one of the best scenes in the movie. Although it was left out, it provides valuable insight into star Edward Norton's character, Monty (whose 25th Hour refers to the day before he's going to be sent to prison for seven years) and adds a colorful dimension to the balance of the ensemble cast. --Jamie Clark