Tarantino - look and learn

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2009)

I've never been a Spike Lee fan and have always found him too self-indulgent. But this movie really made me reassess what I have thought about this director.
The movie starts of with a surprise musical choice: Panjabi music. I still have no idea why Spike Lee decided on such a selection, but it almost conveys the fact that this movie is unpredictable and works outside the box.
Really quite a brilliant piece of work with the script really setting new standards for 'bank job' movies. The suspense is constant. The idea behind the heist sound and slick. The execution is inventive if simple. The actors do a great to excellent job. And that includes everyone from the main actors (Denzel Washington, Clive Owen) and the supporting cast (Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ojiofor, Willem Dafoe) to the smallest of characters... Immense work from the director and kudos to being able to keep his whole vision intact.
An additional bonus to the whole intrigue and primary action are short social and racial commentaries, which are darn brilliant, even if superfluous. Spike Lee however nails it every time, with the Sikh incident being the highlight of the movie. These elements were to an extent reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's earlier work. But this is a whole new level of what Tarantino has been striving to achieve. Respect to Tarantino for showing the way, but this movie shows just how comparatively lacking he is as a director.
This movie almost makes me think that Spike Lee may not only be one of the greatest African-American directors of his generation. He may actually be one of the greatest directors of his generation. Period. (Although I guess a great script helps).
Don't have any real squabbles about the movie. Fresh, intriguing, thoughtful and I am really close to giving it a ten.