Inside Man

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 also give great performances. Movies dont get any better than this. Wickedly cool and satisfyingly ingenious. Director, Spike Lee crafts his best film in years. It stands with the 25th Hour and Malcom X. It's a well-executed and perfectly crafted heist picture. It's Heat meets The Negotiator. 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 soundtrack is wonderfully pompous, the camera work outstanding. Intelligent, exciting and entertaining: Not Spike Lee's most important film, but easily his best. 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 be this good. 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 detective on the scene. He tries to match wits with what he can tell is a clever man up to more than just a robbery. Also on the case is a high powered female broker of sorts, played by Jodie Foster, who has been put into service by a wealthy bank owner, played by Christopher Plummer, who needs her to secure a certain object inside the bank vault. The way the plot unfolds and becomes about more than just the bank robbery is a fun play on genre. Madeliene White: Well detective, there are matters at stake here that are a little bit above your pay grade. No offense. Keith Frazier: Well, why don't you just tell the mayor to raise my pay grade to the proper level, and problem solved. The movie is well made, with three good leads, despite the fact that one of them isn't really needed. Willem Defoe also stars, but is not nearly used enough. My man, Chiwetel Ejiorfor also gets a role as Denzel's partner, which is welcome. Washington and Owen both bring what is needed; Washington acting very naturally with a familiar persona and Owen acting as a smooth and in-control bank robber. Foster is good enough, but as I hinted at, the movie could have easily worked without her character. I must also point out the irony in casting Christopher Plummer in his role if you think about a certain big movie he's been in and the counter balance there. This being a Spike Lee movie, there are plenty of other themes lurking beneath the surface involving corruption and of course, the race card. Vikram Walia: Fuckin' tired of this shit. What happened to my fuckin' civil rights? Why can't I go anywhere without being harassed? Get thrown out a bank, I'm a hostage, I get harassed. I go to the airport, I can't go through security without a random selection. Fuckin' random, my ass. Keith Frazier: I bet you can get a cab though. Vikram Walia: I guess that's one of the perks. Now, while the movie manages to be entertaining enough and bring a fresh spin to the bank robbery movie, problems emerge towards the end, when the conclusion keeps unfolding with more and more reveals. Once again, with the elimination of the Foster character, the film could have been tightened much better. That being said, this is a good movie. It is well shot and familiar to other Lee movies, despite being a more commercial feature, it has a good score provided by Lee regular Terrance Blanchard, and the cast works very well, especially Washington, who just fits into the film easily enough. Keith Frazier: Oh, please, do not say proposals... my girlfriend... she wants a proposal from me. Dalton Russell: You think you're too young to get married? Keith Frazier: No, I'm not too young... too broke. Maybe I should rob a bank. Dalton Russell: Do you love each other? Keith Frazier: Yeah, yeah, we do. Dalton Russell: Then money shouldn't really matter. Keith Frazier: Thank you, bank robber. more

The one note about Spike Lee films is that you're never sure what you're going to get. I'm not really a fan, I find that his films are too convoluted with extraneous detail and somewhat over produced. Inside Man retains all the elements of a solid bank robbery/caper film, whilst also giving us Spike Lee's trademark of gritty, street-wise irreverence. The problem with Inside Man is that it's impossibly unbelievable with a plot that strains the realms of credibility; combine this with it's over-long running time and you have a film that features some great performances by it's cast - Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer and Jodie Foster - but ultimately sags a bit in the middle and ends up becoming rather ponderous. Lee manages to pull off a handful of effective scenes, but he doesn't have the flair to bring the whole movie off with real conviction. An enigmatic master criminal (Owen) - who spends most of the movie wearing a mask - plans and executes a "genius plan" in which he and several masked companions take over a Lower Manhattan bank and brutally seize several dozen of its customers as hostages. The NYPD negotiator given the task of dealing with these crooks is an affable junior detective, Detective Keith Frazier (Washington) - under a cloud of suspicion from a previous case - he soon surmises that the perpetrators don't actually want the bank's money. Enter smarmy and elegant New York political insider Madeline White (Foster) who knows everybody and even has the ear of the Mayor. Madeline is hired by the chairman of the bank's board of directors (Plummer) to oversee the crisis and make sure that certain secrets he has in his safe-deposit box stay secret. The bulk of the film involves the standoff between the bank robbers and the NYPD as they try frantically to ensure that the hostages remain safe. Of course we know the hostages survive because Lee inserts interview footage of them after the heist is over, this device, however, tips off the outcome, dissipates suspense and quickly becomes tiresome. This is just one of the many techniques Lee uses to clutter the movie's structure and prevent the plot from unfolding as quickly as it should. Obviously, everyone has something to hide, particularly the bank president, but when his past is revealed, it finally appears with a bit of a thud, with the movie going through to much difficulty to arrive at very little. In all fairness, Inside Man has some interesting things to say about race, money, power and the ethics of urban living, particularly in New York and the performances are wonderfully cynical and gritty. Washington is sexy and strong, Foster is skillfully odious as the icy, sophisticated and amoral Madeline who cares for nothing but chasing big bucks, Owen is morbidly compelling as the determined heavy and Plummer is letter-perfect as the guilt-ridden bank honcho. Lee, however, just doesn't seem able to bring all the disparate elements of a heist film into a convincing and gratifying whole and in the end; the movie is vaguely unsatisfying and impossibly far-fetched. Mike Leonard August 06. more

The first thing that attracted me to this film was the cast. Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Jodie Foster, heck Willem Dafoe is really a bit player in this one. Not to mention that Spike Lee, not one of my favorite directors, but certainly capable of telling a good story, and the potential was there for brilliance. By now, you know surely that the film deals with a heist of a bank, that the thieves are not after the normal booty that bank robbers go after, and that someone high up in the bank brass stands to lose very personally based on the actions of the thieves. What you may not know is why the movie is so much fun and so great to see. Clive Owen owns this film. Yes, Denzel is great and carries his scenes well, but Owen has the task of not only convincingly playing a thief who is totally in control of the situation, he has to play the role in a way to illicit sympathy from the audience. He does both things masterfully. No doubt you will be in agreement that his performance is the landmark achievement of the movie and the reason it ultimately works. Washington is a good two dimensional character, blending his desire to take advantage of this one great chance he has at landing a plum role within the police department and the fact that he is personally struggling with the pressure of his girlfriend who wants to discuss "the M word" and wear something on a certain finger. In fact, this becomes a large part of the film, right up to the very end. If I noted a couple of weaknesses in the film they would be these. Jodie Foster's character, while necessary, seems to distract from the action. Her role is somewhat important, but I wished she had not been there. Also, the film wraps up somewhat clumsily, as it feels that an extra scene or two should have been left out. This would have made the scenes after the main action feel much tighter. The very end of the film was the only time I felt any urge to look at my watch. These are minor complaints, believe me. In the end, this is a winner, top to bottom. The scary thing about watching movies like this is that the idea the crooks had for robbing the bank is so smart, it will be a wonder if other people don't try it. The heist strategy made that much sense. I highly recommend this film. You won't regret it. more

MOVIE: Spike Lee has never been on my top list of directors. His movies usually have very strong social commentaries, and nothing more than that. Those social commentaries though are usually the same thing, and it always has to deal with race. Hell, he calls every one of his films "A Spike Lee Joint". I'm not against it, but it usually detracts from the story. Inside Man is really his first movie that really focuses on the narrative and is intent on telling an entertaining story. The film is his most mainstream film to date, and in my opinion is his best. Clive Owen plays a bank robber who decides to go Dog Day Afternoon style and perform an elaborate bank heist, but this theif has everything planned to perfection. The film opens right into the action and wastes no time. Denzel Washington plays the "average joe" hostage negotiator who is assigned to the case, and Chiwetel Ejiofor plays his partner. As the story progresses we learn more of what the true purpose of this bank heist is. The owner of the bank, played by Christopher Plummer, has a secret about his past that could destroy his repuation if released to the public and it happens to be located in an unlisted safety deposit box in that bank. He hires Jodie Foster to help him try and reason with Clive Owen's character, while all Denzel Washington is concerned about is serving justice. The film is quick, superbly edited, and extremely entertaining. Spike Lee doesn't compromise his techniques and the film still retains all of the familiar Lee social commentaries. Race and politics become the underlaying theme for the film and it moves it in the right direction. All the reviews and ads talk about the twist ending and a plot full of surprises. It's not that kind of movie, there isn't a Shyamalan twist waiting at the end of the movie, but there are a few secrets about the characters that are slowly revealed throughout. There are some surprises that will make you grin with shame becaue you didn't see them coming, and those are always fun. The racial and political theme is not overpowering, it's not what drives the film but rather enhances the character relations in the film. It's a really well put together piece of filmmaking. Sharp dialogue, light tone, and great entertainment make Inside Man a joint worth passing to the next person. ACTING: This is the dream cast that any director would kill for. Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, and Willem Dafoe headline this impressive ensamble. I mean, how can you have bad acting with a cast like this? It's impossible. The cast is so experienced that they make it look easy to pull off roles like these. The characters feel natural and real, and are emotionally involving. It's a great cast. BOTTOM LINE: Spike Lee proves himself to be a great storyteller. He focuses on the important things and highlights them with his personal touches. He even has his trademark "floaty camera" technique, which he uses to show determination on Denzel Washington's character's part. Even the opening titles and credits are done with style. He uses a very catchy song for the opening and closing credits that sets the perfect tone for the film. It's a song from Bollywood composer, A.R. Rahman. It's titled "Chayya Chayya". You can find the album on Amazon, it's the soundtrack to Dil Se. Inside Man is a tightly woven piece of filmmaking, and is worth your time 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