Inside Man (2006)
My name is Dalton Russell. Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself. I’ve told you my name: that’s the Who. The Where could most readily be described as a prison cell. But there’s a vast difference between being stuck in a tiny cell and being in prison…
— Dalton Russell
Considered Spike Lee’s most critically and commercially successful movie of his career, Inside Man is not your average bank heist movie. I own this movie on DVD for a while, but I never cracked it open and watched it. I have given it to former co-workers to watch, but I never did because it came out of a subscription I had with Columbia House a couple of years ago. Watching it now, I don’t know why I waited this long.
At first, you think that this would be a typical bank robbery, but it’s not. A masterful criminal, Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) and his crew holds up a Manhattan Trust Bank disguising themselves as painters armed with AK-47s and smoke bombs.
Det. Fraizer, (Denzel Washington), a hostage negotiator that is in some hot water over a drug dealer, check cashing and $100 thousand missing dollars is assigned to the case with his partner, Det. Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor). They rendezvous with Capt. Darius (Willem Dafoe) to let the duo know about what is going on.
The robbers usher to the hostages to the bank vault level to confiscate their keys, cell phones and clothes. The hostages are asked to change into the identical painter coveralls the robbers have on. These are not your ordinary robbers.
With all the news coverage about the robbery spreads to the news, the chairman of the bank, Mr. Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) calls a “fixer” Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to protect special items in his safety deposit box.
They all come together to try to diffuse the situation. There are more layers to the movie when Dalton strings Frazier along like a puppet. He always stays one step ahead of him. It’s a cat and mouse game.
Nothing is what it seems to be when the purpose of the robbers is not about money, but it’s about a person getting their due justice. It’s a morality play that is reminiscent of the legend of Robin Hood.
The performances were solid across the board. The dialogue is quick and biting. The action keeps you on your toes with twists and turns.
The only gripe I have about the film is that the film wrapped up to nice and neat with any loose ends are solved. Nothing is left to the imagination of the audience to think about when the end credits begin.
Judgment: A solid psychological thriller that keeps you on your toes.
Rating: ****
Posted on November 23, 2009, in 2006, Crime, Drama, Psychological, Thriller and tagged Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Plummer, Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Inside Man, Jodie Foster, Spike Lee, Willem Dafoe. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Foolish Blatherings 
Its not often that you hear complaints about there not being enough loose ends, but I agree. It was wrapped up a little too neatly that it kind of took the fun out of the dénouement.
This is a really good film but I still say it places behind Do the Right Thing and much of his other early work. I can see it stack up against 25th Hour pretty well though. His post 9/11 has an obviously different flavour than everything else.
Now, that I think about it. How did Dalton Russell know the dark secret of Mr. Case? He said it didn’t matter. I kinda does. Why were diamonds in the deposit box with a diamond ring and a Nazi document?
I heard that there is going to be a sequel. Do you want that to happen?
I enjoy Lee’s movies, even controversial ones like “Bamboozled”. He makes films that make you think, feel and react.
I really like the fact that Spike has evolved past being a black filmmaker into a filmmaker who is black (if that’s not too cliché). I have yet to see Miracle at St. Anna, and even though I hear it’s not that great, I’d like to see his approach to the war genre.
I don’t know about a sequel to Inside Man. I actually didn’t really care for Washington’s character in the movie – I had the feeling that he really was crooked, and maybe out for himself a little too much. Kind of how I feel about Washington the man.
There was certainly a lot of backstory involved in Inside Man – I’d like to know a little more about Jodie Foster’s fixer character, and maybe also like her to get lessons on how to walk in heels… But I dig characters like that, like Winston Wolf.
My take? Dalton knew – probably because of his mother or grandmother. Those diamonds – those would have been taken from Jews (or more precisely: that Jewish woman or her father) captured during the war. They were likely the only kind of currency they could have gotten around on as far as bribing German soldiers and whatnot.
I haven’t seen “St. Anna” either, but I am willing to check it out.
Inside Man has a lot fun to it, just not one of Lee’s best. Check out my review here: http://dtmmr.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/inside-man-2006/ Nice Review!
Yeah, it’s not one of his best, but it was nice to see a solid studio film from him.
I haven’t seen as many Spike Lee films as I would have liked (although I adored DO THE RIGHT THING when I saw it in a cinema studies class last year), but I definitely dug this flick. It’s really sleek and stylish, and overall just enormously entertaining. Not to mention, the music is GREAT.
There are a few moments where Lee seems to be pushing his racial agenda though that I thought were a bit heavy handed – the scene with the Sikh bank employee sort of felt like it belonged in another film (probably another Spike Lee film). On the other hand, I really like how New York is represented as such a vibrant and multicultural city.