a Spike Lee surprise

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2006)

It's a bank robbery film. A very good bank robbery film, to tell the truth. But the reasons to go to a movie theater and watch THE INSIDE MAN are miles away from the history of a audacious plan to steal a bank. It could be the history of everything you can possible imagine, but its the grouping of Denzel Washington's, Clive Owen's and Jodie Foster's talents that make this film amazing. Of course, it's a Spike Lee joint as we didn't see for a long time. There's no racial speech, there's no political point of view trying to be hammered into your head, it's just entertainment as the audience deserves. Clive Owen has a plan: with three associated friend, he will steal a fortune in a bank  just because he can. Denzel is the detective designed to negotiate the hostage situation and Jodie Foster is a cold woman with a mysterious job: solve her client's problems at any cost, with no questions. The point here is that Clive doesn't want only the money, Denzel is not the infallible negotiator we expect to see and Jodie's client is the owner of the invaded bank. Talk more is spoil the nice surprises of the plot. It's not DOG DAY AFTERNOOM  and there are a few holes in the plot - but it's much more than we are seeing nowadays.