Fun?

Rating: 6/10 (17 April 2006)

Spike Lee clearly had fun making this film. More fun than I had watching it. Still, that is a testament to how much he enjoyed making it, because Inside Man, for the most part, is playful entertainment.
To see Washington and Owen battle wits is to see an uncomfortable nemesis. Rather than a gritty, wordsmith negotiator, Washington is a second-hand Shaft with the uniform of a pool shark.
Lee spikes the characters with his customary colour-conscious commentary  understandable ,though, and effective. Morality elsewhere in the film, however, is playfully dubious. And seeing as the premise of the film shows hinges itself upon the inequity of ill-gotten gains, the ending usurps itself.
I ask myself, why write spoilers for a comment? But I must say this. One man happily possesses traceable Nazi treasure - after being illegitimately promoted to First Grade Detective Inspector - and a man who has dedicated his life to benefiting society is to be socially annihilated for the same action. Clearly not a morality play, this film should be watched in the background to something else.