Inside Man

The thrills in Spike Lee's singularly savvy thriller are in small unexpected moments. more

The jazzish score, by Lee's music man, Terence Blanchard, is typically intrusive. But the mood is right, the twists are new. And with one casting inspiration, Inside Man furthers the rising stardom of Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity). more

This is the mother lode all action/suspense directors search for and Lee, who usually doesn't work in that genre, has hit it. more

A superior nail-biter. more

As with all of Lee's films, there's much more going on beneath the surface than is immediately apparent. more

Inside Man may be a cat-and-mouse game, but it's far from predictable. What could have been a straightforward thriller is unusually clever, visually captivating and unfailingly entertaining. more

Washington hasn't been this relaxed in years. When he feels like it he can be the most charismatic star in the movies. more

Working with someone else's material and a story outside the mainstream of his (Lee) work, he delivers laughs, puzzles, tension and the immense gift of fine actors at their delicious, familiar best. more

It twists in on itself mercilessly, rarely pausing to let the viewers catch up, but that's OK. A movie like this depends on staying at least a step ahead of its audience, and this one surely does. more

With juicy supporting roles for Chiwetel Ejiofor and Willem Dafoe as Washington's fellow officers, the film works best when the characters are just sitting back and shooting the breeze, which is what they're doing much of the time. Here, puzzling out a robbery is more fun than stopping it. more

This wasn't as good as people had told me it was (maybe because I watched it on TV, with commercials?), but it was still a fine action movie. Lee makes some interesting visual choices and as a whole the cast is good - surprisingly, I found the only underwhelming performance came from one of my favourites, Jodie Foster. She just seemed kind of flat. Plot-wise, there are some unconventional twists, and you are still guessing until the end. Bummer that the sequel's not happening after all, the ending is open to it. As worth watching as any other Denzel Washington movie: very. more

It's a first-rate no-holds-barred crime-thriller. Sizzling, crackling, smart and totally engaging. A piercing bullet of suspense and excitement. It will keep you on the edge with it's brain and everything you can want in a movie. You'll be guessing right till the end. An awesome cast. Denzel Washington and Clive Owen give superb performances. With these two great actors going head to head crossing wit and intensity is like watching a dream come true. A great all-star cast. Jodie Foster gives a tough, confident and terrific performance. Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ejifore and Willem Dafoe... more

One of the most brilliant heist movies of recent years about a bank robbery where things are never like they seem to be. A great cast delivers excellent performances and dialogues, even though Jodie Fosters character could easily have been left out it's still a nice addition to Clive Owen and Denzel Washington being awesome, especially in their first phone conversation with each other. Saying more than that about the plot twists should already be against the law. Even though the movie maybe could have been 10 minutes shorter, it is nice how detailed and clever it is. The Bond-esque... more

This is one of my favorite Spike Lee joints, one of my favorite Denzel Washington movies, and one of my favorite heist films. Spike didn't get too heavy-handed with his usual trademarks, and allowed the clever story and the talented actors to carry the movie. It works very well, because of this. Inside Man has one of the best casts that I can think of. Jodie Foster, Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and several other great actors would be a near-guarantee of quality in any movie, especially when they're paired with a good script and a good director. I hope that the eventual sequel will also... more

Inside Man is a perfectly crafted heist film from Spike Lee. It has a great sense of pace and has one of the best plots of its kind. Clive Owen is the ultimate bank robber with no time for mistakes. It has all of Spike Lee's great film-making techniques and his great unique style. more

Keith Frazier: What are you doing? This ain't no bank robbery! A Spike Lee joint, robbin the joint that is *laughs to himself*. A big studio picture about a bank robbery and a detective trying to figure things out, and Spike Lee is at the helm, a bit odd indeed. The movie stars Clive Owen as a bank robber who claims at the beginning of the film to know how to conduct the perfect bank robbery. As the bank heist commences, we see the robbers round up the hostages and dress them up all the same. Meanwhile, Detective Keith Frazier, played by Denzel Washington, is put into action as lead... more