Not Worth A Purchase!

Rating: 5/10 (23 June 2015)

Spike Lee puts together a fairly serious but also very playful take on a bank heist which turns into a hostage situation, with all persons involved in the situation (police detective, brokers and the bank robber) trying to negotiate their ways out.
It's a film which sees Denzel Washington (Detective Keith Frazier) and Clive Owen (Dalton Russell) bring their sarcastic, comical and undeniably cool characters to the table which we see in Training Day (2001) and Shoot 'Em Up (2007).
An unusual score from Spike Lee once again, accompanied with a vague plot and a lack of tension for such a serious situation, personally highlights a fairly average Denzel Washington film here, which is hard for me to say, as such a big Denzel fan.
Undeniably there is still good quality acting from the 2 time Oscar winner as expected, and when accompanied with an all-star cast including the likes of Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe and the then up-and- coming Chiwetel Ejiofo, it is still an enjoyable film. However, it was far from the brilliance that I was expecting.
Recommendation: Glad it was on TV and I didn't spend a penny on this - but if you want a fun, tongue-in-cheek Denzel film one night, then may be worth a watch!