"Get Ready To Root For The Bad Guy"

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2006)

Detective Frazier, is one tough cop who is too smart for his job. Dalton Russell is a bank robber, who planned the perfect bank robbery. Hostages are at stake and Frazier needs to get them out. When an unexpected guest arrives, Madaline White, Frazier begins to believe that there is more to this heist then just the money.
A Spike Lee Joint, one of his better joints if you ask me. Leaving his "pro black, con white" message in his past, Lee has made an entertaining heist film that makes you side with the bad guy just because he is cool. Right from the get-go Owen tells you the What, Why, Where, When and eventually the How on the perfect bank robbery. Hearing this, you get the impression that he will be successful in this attempt. I'm not going to tell you whether he is or isn't, but throughout the entire movie, even though you might not want to, you can't help but cheer for Owen to get away with it in the end.
While viewing the trailer, one gets the impression that Inside Man is more then just a normal heist flick and it is. It's difficult to go into an explanation of the plot without giving some bits of it away, as I've probably already have done for some. The plot of the film is interesting, although some may be expecting a bigger pay-off in the end, Inside Man does deliver the twists and turns, just not as big as some may suspect.
Lee throws in his usual character has a racist moment as he does with virtually every film he does. He also manages to have fun with the time line and give us some testimonies of the survivors, it manages to flow well with the film. Here Lee is able to keep up with what's on the screen. He makes the plot follow along smoothly, up until the end though, where the film unexpectedly goes on and on dragging the viewer with it. It has to have that clichéd ending where the detective realizes what has just happened.
The performances are top-notch. Washington delivers us another great performance as the tough cop who seems to catch on to the scheme quicker then others. Jodie Foster gives a good performance with what little she has, even if her character has no background information what so ever as to what she does or who she is. She just happens to be there and with connections. Clive Owen is great as the bad guy, even if his face is covered for 3/4 of the film. He is so cool and sly as the villain that you end up rooting for him, knowing that it's the wrong thing to do. William Dafoe rounds out the supporting cast and along with Foster, doesn't have much screen time. This is forgivable because Washington and Owen are so good on the screen that you wish the story would stick with them.
Inside Man begins as an action thriller and takes a quick turn to something a little bit more sophisticated, once we get inside the bank with our captives. The film itself will make you want to try and plan your own "perfect robbery". Lee gives us a great heist film that I'm sure will be mentioned with the best of them. If Inside Man was a bit shorter...such as cutting out some "digging hole" scenes and a better wrap up, then it could have qualified for an early start to one of the year's best films. But for now it can just stay as being an entertaining heist flick....oh yeah, get ready to root for the bad guy.