Potentially great thriller gets lost amid an aimless civics lesson

Rating: 6/10 (24 November 2006)

In Jan De Bont's 1994 action extravaganza "Speed," he pitted Keanu Reeves and a busload of ethnic/social/economic stereotypes against a mad bomber (Dennis Hopper); it was a taut, intense, and breezily implausible ride that didn't leave the viewer pondering much afterward. On initial glance, Spike Lee's "Inside Man" is another concoction in the mold of De Bont's film, but is undermined by the director's unleashed tendency to prod us with a civics lesson. While this is the kind of thing you expect from a glorified After-School Special like "Crash," it does not help along an alleged thriller...as a matter of fact, every time Lee brings a new ethnic stereotype into the fray, the film comes to a screeching halt because his technique is so heavy-handed (the racist patrolman; the busty Albanian translator; the Muslim who natters endlessly about his turban). The result is a film of diffused intensity through and through--which is a shame, because its setup promises something very cool: Clive Owen plays a crafty extortionist who takes over a branch of a Manhattan bank with his masked, hooded partners; bank head Christopher Plummer is extremely concerned about the contents of a safe-deposit box inside; Jodie Foster is enlisted as an impartial 'fixer' to negotiate things with Owen. Meanwhile, Denzel Washington reprises his 'flawed-yet-resourceful cop' role, trying to figure out Owen's motivation...which, to the film's credit, is unique. The leads turn in good--if rather typical--performances, and the cinematography puts us within the action very well...but "Inside Man"'s suspense is constantly thwarted by a manufactured look and some of the most artificial supporting characters ever put on-screen. That, and Lee's aforementioned perpetuating of the racial divide at the expense of story and thrills...well, it makes one long for the summer of '94, when "Speed" delivered entertaining action, sans a political agenda.
5.5 out of 10