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Details & Information
from IMDB |
| Genre |
Crime |
| Year |
2006 |
| Duration |
129 min |
| Rating |
7.6 out of 10 |
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| Description: |
"Inside Man" is the story of a tough cop, Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington), who matches wits with a clever bank robber, Dalton (Clive Owen). As the dangerous cat-and-mouse game unfolds, a wild card emerges: Madaline (Jodie Foster), a power broker with a hidden agenda, who injects even more instability into an already volatile situation. Written by Anonymous
From a cell, a man tells us he has planned the perfect bank robbery; he invites us to watch. An efficient gang enters a Manhattan bank, locks the doors, and takes hostages. They work deliberately, without haste. A snarky detective facing corruption charges is assigned to negotiate. The bank's president has something to protect in a safe deposit box, so he brings in a high-powered fixer. With an army of police surrounding the bank, the thief, the cop, and the plutocrat's fixer enter high-stakes negotiations. Why are the robbers asking for a plane - they know they won't get one? Why aren't they in more of a hurry? If the job's perfect, why is leader of the thieves in a cell? |
| Comments: |
It's curious to see Spike Lee do a straight caper movie. The movie is absent Lee's usual politics, though there are occasional glimpses of his sensibilities. At one point a Sikh has his turban taken away and complains at ends how Sikhs are not Arabs and he's tired of getting harassed all the time.
Anyway, the cast is great - Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, and Christopher Plummer are all top-drawer actors. Willem Dafoe has a smaller part that doesn't use all of his talents, unfortunately. The clever twist the plot adds is that the bank robbers dress everybody up in the same masks and jump suits that they themselves are wearing. So if the police raid the bank, they'll have a difficult time figuring who the bad guys are. (This isn't a spoiler - it's in the trailers.) Clive Owen and the robbers are clearly up to something that becomes apparent during the course of the film. They are particularly interested in the safety deposit box of the bank CEO, played by Christopher Plummer. Jodie Foster is brought in by him to protect "his interests". Her existence is amusing in that it reveals a bit about what Spike Lee thinks the corridors of white power are like. (Here's a hint, Spike: rich white folks don't swear at each other quite as much as you make them do, and in particular the word used by the Mayor to describe Jodie Foster's character is way beyond the pale. A real woman with as much influence as her character had would retaliate massively after being so described. But Spike Lee has never quite managed to capture any female character correctly, dating all the way back to Nola Darling. I digress.) The good parts of the film involve the interactions between Washington and Owen. Also, the many small man-on-the-street conversations are great. This aspect of observing street life has always been one of Lee's strongest points.
It was interesting watching a Spike Lee caper film. I kinda like the idea. It's better than the formulaic caper films that are the rage, and features some of Lee's trademark shots, like when he puts an actor on a dolly to create non-walking walking movement. I recommend the film. |
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