A great New York film, a thriller with NYC ironic humor!

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2007)

Reading the mixed reviews posted here I wonder if you have to possess that special brand of irony with which New Yorkers are imbued, a sense of humor in the face of disaster or the threat of it anyway, if you're going to 'get' this movie. Spike Lee and his phenomenal cast (besides the incomparable Denzel, Clive, Jodie and Chris, there's a rich gathering of NY character actors and 'real people') deliver the tragi-comic nuances of an adventure where perception is continually being altered by circumstances that look one way while the full dimensions of the actual reality hide in plain sight until the very end. The dialogue is as savvy and witty as I've heard in a long time. I think a really big clue to appreciating this film is the understanding that everyone, no matter what their pay grade (Foster refers to Washington's as a means of putting him in his place--she changes her view completely by film's end), takes actions according to their perceptions and everyone therefore can fail to see what is directly in front of them. Everyone makes what in movie plot terms are stupid mistakes, but what in real life terms are manifestations of a tragic flaw in consciousness. And people can wise up sometimes, as some do in this film.
I recently watched the film again, and what fun it was to see the set-ups realizing exactly what they meant. Or at least I had a better idea! Great film, don't miss it.
Followup on this comment:
I should also have mentioned Chiwetel Ejiofor and Willem Dafoe, also outstanding.