One of a Kind!

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2006)

Spike Lee's, Inside Man, has got to be one of the greatest films I have seen in a long time. It was an amazingly brilliant film! From the very beginning, it had captured my attention.
The beginning opens up with Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) revealing his plan to rob a bank. He explains, very tactfully, how this is going to be the greatest robbery to ever exist, and how he will actually get away with it, and "walk right out the doors" with the money. He appears to be very cocky, yet very smart. As the movie then brings its credits up, they come up as combination locks, which told me right off, that something was locked up and will probably be revealed.
Dalton Russell and his accomplices enter into a Manhattan bank disguised as painters. From the very beginning of this heist, you see the elaborate planning that went into this "extraordinary" robbery. As they gather everyone in the bank as hostages, they make all fifty of them put on the very same painters outfit as they were wearing. A New York cop, Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington), is put in charge of negotiating this hostage situation. By this time, the Manhattan Trust Bank is surrounded by the NYPD, but it doesn't seem to bother Russell at all. In fact, he actually takes his time. This film is not entirely chronological. We randomly see scenes of Frazier and his partner, Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor), interviewing each of the hostages at the end of the robbery.
The situation gets even more complicated when the chairman of the bank, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) has something in a safety deposit box that he doesn't want anyone to know about. Arthur Case calls on Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to fix his problem. She amazingly makes her way into the bank to "negotiate" with the perpetrator, Russell. The plot gets thicker, and soon Frazier realizes that he is missing something in this "puzzle".
Without ruining the ending, I will say that this movie has many twists and turns, enough to keep you thinking throughout the movie. This was a very thought out movie, and I would highly recommend it. I was thoroughly impressed with everything, including the actors, camera angels, and Lee's love for adding such reality to his films.