I finally know how to pronounce Enver Hoxha's last name.

Rating: 8/10 (3 September 2006)

Some people say that Spike Lee is overrated as a director, but I beg to differ. "Inside Man" proves what a good director he is (and I've heard that his recent documentary about Hurricane Katrina is also worth seeing). "Inside Man" begins with criminal Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) mysteriously describing a bank robbery. After a few minutes, we get to see the bank robbery: Dalton and his friends dress as decorators, lock the doors, and pull out their guns. Within a few minutes, the robbery is the biggest news in the city, with Det. Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) called in to try and negotiate.
Ah, but this is no ordinary robbery. You see, these bank robbers aren't after what we think. And as Madeline White (Jodie Foster) learns, the bank's owner (Christopher Plummer) has in the bank a little something that no one's supposed to know about - so he can't report it if it gets stolen.
This is probably one of the tautest bank robbery movies that I've ever seen. Aside from the tense scenes of hostage-taking, there's the problems entailing the people outside the bank. In this movie, no one is really what s/he seems. It's the sort of movie that makes one wonder just how much we really know about anyone, even our closest friends and confidants. Definitely a movie that I recommend. Also starring Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Oh, and one more thing: I can take pride in being probably one of the few people who knew about Enver Hoxha before seeing "Inside Man". It was just that I learned here how to pronounce his surname.