The first time I saw this film I was mesmerised by the slow, melancholy and yet detached narration of a man's last day of freedom before starting a jail sentence. On second viewing the film looses its initial impact and the atmosphere seeps away at the edges and exposes some shortfalls you had not noticed the first time.

The first time round: The strangely oniric, almost real-time, pace makes you breathe in the futile desperation which surrounds the dead-end situation. You see how Monty (Edward Norton) faces his last day and tries to say goodbye to the people who are most important to him: his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), his two diametrically opposed life-long friends Frank (Barry Pepper) and Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his father (Brian Cox).

The film is not about the before nor the after of Monty's last day of freedom but the surreal and strangely still impasse which lies between the consequences of his past and the terror of his future. The atmosphere of the film is its highlight. Spike Lee's direction, slow and yet tough, and Edward Norton's strong acting suck you into the void of the 25th hour.

On reviewing: The lack of character development behind Monty's character become more difficult to overlook. He is a convicted drug-dealer who really does not fit the bill and it becomes impossible to overlook the contradictions between his clean-cut image and the violent underworld he manoeuvres in perfectly. You start wanting more justification of how he got there and to see a little more self-analysis and admission of responsibility on his part. Frank, the hard-edged, clear-thinking wall-street trader, and Jacob, the desperate professor infatuated with one of his students, become both despicable and pathetic. Naturelle is beautiful and yet pretty vacant.

Nonetheless, I recommend it highly for the initial impression it made on me. As well as a few unforgettable scenes: The mirror monologue. Frank and Monty under the bridge. The ending.