Sorry folks...my first big Collassal disappointment of 2006

Rating: 5/10 (10 April 2006)

I thought The Inside Man was a sure fire enjoyable film. How could they miss?? Great, strong leading cast, seemingly flawless action/heist film with some good twists and maybe a mystery to boot. I was psyched to see it, one of my first big anticipations of this year and unfortunately it let me down. I seem to be one of the few as it garnishes rave reviews from IMDb viewers and continues to rake in the money. What can I say?? I found Spike Lee's latest attempt at an intellectual action film campy, poorly delivered and put together, and completely utterly confusing. I'm still not sure the entire basis of the story except pieces here and there. I have not seen a lot of Spike Lee "joints" but the few I have seen his style appears to be a non-conformist, mish-mashed, play on regular chronological order ex: Son of Sam, 25th Hour. Both of which I felt a little confused during. Perhaps my "intellectuality" I don't know??
The amazing if not slightly pontificating Denzel Washington takes the lead role as newcomer Hostage negotiator Keith Frazier, and unless you looked on here I don't know if you'd ever know his characters name. Nonetheless Washington pretty flawlessly makes any role watchable with his intense acting ability and his sometimes frantic portrayal of men under stress. Washington is the films saving grace and even though his humility leaves something to be desired (the man reeks of knowing how good he is) he's still an amazing leading man. Clive Owen is his adversary Dalton Russell and under normal circumstances this would have been a match made in Heaven. Owen is becoming a great leading man in his own right having really impressed me in Derailed, King Arthur and even one of my less favorites Closer. Owen spends the majority of the film behind a mask which could be perfectly fine but none of the characters in the film are ever really explored or opened up which makes operating behind a mask even more difficult. His true genius is left untapped and his character is left completely undiscovered sadly. Same with Washington's character who has a great back story that is just never explored with any real class or expertise. Still with what Owen is given he does his best and plays a great bad guy but still in some ways an anti-hero. Jodie Foster plays conniving black market mediator to the rich and famous Madeline White. In actuality she IS the Inside Man. Her role is without a doubt the best in the film and the most developed. In many ways she is more the villain than Owen's character. She's devious and underhanded and is more about the money than anyone and at the same time because of her line or work she has some very powerful connections even if those connections despise her for the work she has done. Foster is tight knit, no holds barred, and easily believable as a man-eater or people eater in general. Christopher Plummer as the aging bank executive who is on the receiving end of the robber's bitterness does a decent job but his role is equally unflourished and it goes to waste in the end. Another great actor Willem Dafoe goes to complete waste as the seemingly bored Captain John Darius. His role is so small despite having a lot of screen time and he just seems like he doesn't want to be there. Chiwetel Ejiofor who did such a great job as the bad guy in Four Brothers is made into Denzel Washington's lackey, following him around like a puppy dog and never doing much of anything except being Washington's straight man.
Nobody from this film is the problem with the film. Everyone does the best job they can with what they are given with a poorly slapped together script. The story makes little to no sense and desperately needs so much more explaining and depth and maybe it all ended up on the cutting room floor but for me it ruined it completely. What started out as an intense action film began to spiral into completely and utter non sensical story. The heist wasn't clever, it was confusing because we as the audience knew even less about what was going on than the people involved. The interspersed interviews with witnesses and possible suspects DURING the bank robbery was even more confusing and leaving the film in chronological order would have been much neater and easier to follow. There were small little moments when I wondered why in the hell they decided to do such little things that made the film look downright fake. There is a scene where the female robber is guarding the vault and she is swaying back and forth like a cartoon castle guard?!!? It looks ridiculous!! What should have been a very real and intense and incredibly clever heist film was a brutally confusing and misused and poorly directed and written crap film that was only saved and marginally watchable by it's high priced and high priority cast. It had it's moments where I thought everything was going to come together but it never did and when those credits started rolling my disappointment began rolling in. I won't tell anyone NOT to see this movie, in fact I would say enjoy my review let it fire you up if you like it because everyone seems to love this film. It just wasn't for me and disappointed me a great deal, no one is more saddened than me to not have loved it. 5/10