It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you cant judge a crime by its cover.
Rating: 6/10
Running Time: 129 minutes
US Certificate: R
Spike Lee and Denzel Washington pair up for their 4th film with Inside Man.
Detective Keith Frazer (Denzel) is an NYPD hostage negotiator/detective with the perfunctory younger partner. Frazer, under investigation for corruption, is sent to negotiate with bank robbers who have taken hostages. Meanwhile, bank president Arthur Case(Christopher Plummer), uses his deep pockets to hire an outside professional to protect his interest in the robbery. It seems that a secret from Cases past is tucked away in the banks vault. Lee doesnt keep it a secret that the bank robbers, led by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), are after the presidents secret. The subplots multiply and lead to an entertaining ending that resolved the majority of these.
The movie is quite entertaining and moves at a nice speed; however, at this point in cinematic history, its not really possible to make an original bank heist flick. Try as he might, Lee makes it interesting, but not original. Part of the films trouble is Madeline White (Jodie Foster). Shes a high paid fixer (think Pulp Fictions Winston Wolfe) who uses fundraising as a cover for her more nefarious dealings. She inserts herself into the investigation by pulling a few rather unbelievable strings. It makes for an interesting tactic, but its completely unbelievable. Jodies a great actor, but her character adds nothing to the film and arguable takes away from it.
Lee has a decent script to work with and uses flash-forwards to keep everyone on their toes. Theres also a good bit of suspense that makes it slightly less than predictable.
It's Got: Denzel. Hes just good. It also has a great supporting cast, Foster, Wilem Dafoe, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer and Chiwetel Ejiofor (quite underrated as an actor)
It Needs: Characters with a little more depth. Fosters character especially. This would avoid you thinking to yourself, So what?
Summary
Not the Spike Lee of old, but then again why cant he make the movies he wants.