Starring:
Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Christopher Plummer

Director:
Spike Lee

Running Time:
129 mins

Out to buy on DVD 31/07/06

• Excellent central performances from Denzel Washington and Clive Owen
• Great script with plenty of twists and turns
• Spike Lee proves that he can direct a commercial film as well

• Jodie Foster and William Dafoe are seriously underused
• Slows down in the middle act

 

"It's the perfect bank robbery"

Dalton Russell (Owen) has planned the perfect bank robbery. As he and his crew take over the bank and take hostages, police negotiator detective Keith Frazier (Washington) is charged with bringing an end to the situation with out any casualties. As the stand off continues however, Frazier starts to belief there is more to the robbery than just money, especially when Madeliene White (Foster) appears on the scene, demanding to talk to the robbers with the full backing of the Mayor and the bank owner.

Director Spike Lee applies his considerable talents to the hostage thriller genre and brings you an intelligent movie that will captivate you from start to finish.

There has never been any denying that director Spike Lee is an extremely talented filmmaker but his films have never been huge, commercial Hollywood fair. Better known for his character driven pieces and personal projects like 'Do the Right Thing', 'Jungle Fever', 'Summer of Sam', '25th Hour' and 'Malcolm X', this is first real crack at mainstream cinema and the good news is that he pulls it off with some style.

Heist movies have always been a great way of throwing together action, thrills and twists and turns, 'Inside Man' is no different. Spike Lee injects his own style of character development and his visual flare to produce a thriller that will grab you from the off. The quality of Russell Gewirtz's script means that you never know how far either robber Dalton Russell or hostage negotiator Keith Frazier will go to get what they want. The plot twist and turns, throwing up many red herrings along the way as you try and guess what is going on and what is going to happen next. This is a film that is about much more than a bank robbery, but this is all that can be said without spoiling the plot.

Spike Lee manages to gather together a first class cast to bring the intelligent story to life. Leading the line is man who is no stranger to working with Spike Lee, Denzel Washington. As hostage negotiator Keith Frazier, he is an ambitious detective who is trying move on from a past case that is still hanging around his neck and this could be the job to do. This optimism soon changes when he realises that his is not an ordinary robbery negotiation. This is a role that is tailor made for Washington and one that he can really get his teeth into. Clive Owen continues to make inroads into Hollywood superstardom with another scene stealing role for the British actor. As Dalton Russell, he is the supremely confident thief who knows exactly what he is doing even if Detective Frazier or the watching audience are completely in the dark. Jodie Foster appears briefly in a pivotal role as Madeliene White, the New Yorker who has the influence and connections to get anything done. She is a tremendous actress who brings class to whatever role she plays, however small.

The supporting cast is also first rate. Christopher Plummer is his usual brilliant self as the bank's owner. British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor raises his profile again with another good Hollywood role. William Dafoe is criminally underused as Captain Darius however, as this is a role that could have been played by anyone.

With plenty of twists and turns, an exceptional cast and a director on the top of this game, 'Inside Man' is a very good example of a heist thriller. While it does slow down slightly in the middle act, the finale more than makes up for it as the conclusion not what you might have been expecting. The movie does prove that Spike Lee is a superbly talented director who can turn his gifts to any genre.