Superb filmmaker

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2006)

"Inside Man" proves that Spike Lee doesn't need controversy to be a superb filmmaker. He takes a tight, twisty, genre screenplay and gives it at once a weight and a lightness that shows him to be a consummate storyteller. He brings an attention to detail, a focus and a knowledge of film convention tinged with both reverence and a sense of humor that he puts into service of the story to great effect. The film reeks of the joy of storytelling.
He has the benefit of an A-List cast -- Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Plummer -- that not for a moment seem to be slumming in a "heist movie". They exude a love of acting without a trace of self indulgence.
The film does lose pace after the release of the hostages, but that is in some ways inescapable, given the plotting (which I don't go into because playing along with the puzzle is one of the joys of the film).
The negative criticism of this movie seems to me to miss the point of what the movie is: a game that draws the viewer in, not through violence, although there is some, but through the threat of violence.
In earlier films, Lee showed his skill at the display of technique; here he proves equally adept at hiding it.