Well acted, well written, but not my cup of tea, really...

Rating: 5/10 (2 May 2020)

There's no denying 'Inside Man' is a very good production, with an all-star cast. However, I found the film would have been much better paced had it been about 20 minutes shorter.
Almost the entire film is set inside the bank. Being such a long film - with more talk than action - it was so drawn out that it lost all sense of urgency. Even the robbers operated at such a snail's pace that moments in the film became - dare I say - tedious. Inter-cutting between the robbery and interrogations ruined the suspense for me, and already gave us an idea what happened after the robbery. I didn't want to see that as early as around the 30-minute mark. (Unnecessary) Humor elements and character's private lives also took up a lot of screen time. The film deviated way too often from the matter at hand.
The acting was very good, but then again, there wasn't really much for the actors to do, was there? I still don't fully understand Jodie Foster's character, Madeleine. There's this great importance about her character, but then she doesn't achieve anything noteworthy. She tried, but that's about it.
I did enjoy the constant sense of mystery. Ultimately, though, it just wasn't worth sitting through 128 minutes just to enjoy the mystery element. There are far more enjoyable movies in this genre out there. (Note, I said more enjoyable, indicating this is not a bad film - don't get me wrong on that. From a entertainment point of view, it just didn't score high enough for me). The only real action comes from a reenactment of Captain John's thoughts (played by Dafoe). And it lasts about 30 seconds or so...
Would I watch it again? No.