a decent by-the-numbers heist flick

Rating: 7/10 (21 April 2007)

Inside Man is a decent enough film to rent on DVD on a wet Friday. The main intrigue comes from figuring out who the bad guys were. All the other sub-plots - where Owen disappeared to, how Washington will win his power game with Foster, what order Dafoe will give when it all goes pear-shaped - are either telegraphed early on or lack dramatic tension. Also, pay too much attention and some glaring plot holes reveal themselves. But, there is some crisp dialogue, a few laughs, and the always (well sometime, in the case of Owen) charismatic cast to enjoy. Apart from a couple of asides about colour-prejudiced comments, the only thing that tells you this is a Spike Lee joint is the credit roll. Intriguingly, there is one excruciatingly embarrassing moment when a female-specific (in the US of A, that is) expletive is aimed at Foster. Lee has been eloquent and accurate in his condemnation of Tarantino's over-fondness for using language that discriminates against African-Americans: all the more the pity, then, that he chooses to so clumsily deploy similar language tactics for gender bias. I get the feeling Lee made this film to prove a point, in order to show that he can be a decent genre filmmaker, on a par with Soderbergh in Out-of-Sight mode. Well, he made his point. I for one would like him to get back to doing what he does best, making polemical films about issues that matter.