Tense and very entertaining

Rating: Null/10 (23 September 2006)

A heist-film that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the word go. The main issue here is not how they perform the robbery, but a big WHY? Problem is: what do the bank robbers want? And why do they seem to be one step ahead of the police every time? They seem to know the police "procedure book" inside out.
The ever reliable Denzel Washington gives another great performance as detective Frasier, a police negotiator, who is called in when the Bank of Manhattan is being robbed by a mysterious gang headed by a certain Russell Dalton (Clive Owen). Dozens of customers are held hostage, but they don't just seem to be after the money.
We got the action, great performances and Spike Lee shows his directing skills but the main problem lies within the script, which obviously could have used some work. Christopher Plummer and Jodie Foster give way better performances then their thinly sketched characters deserve, but essentially the tension revolves around the two main characters, Frasier en Dalton. Film is about imagination and normally I do not care about issues concerning with probability or reality, but the plot is incredibly far-fetched at times and the conclusion was somewhat of a mystery to me, but these loopholes were cleverly filled by Clive Owen's introductionary words in order to add something to the mystery.
The film kept my interest till the very end, but when the film was over, it was over. My mind was blank, no resonance whatsoever. I know it's an action/heist picture, but to me it seemed to pretend something more than that. Spike Lee knows how to build up tension scene for scene but as a whole, it didn't really hold up. Writing this comment, I can barely remember what I just saw. Probably, the script was fixed so many times in order to meet the demands of an ever-changing all-star cast and a director that wasn't first choice, that it went a little overboard.
It's hardly a typical Spike Lee film. Pure genre work, let's be honest, but apparently other directors like Ron Howard pulled out, so perhaps this explains the troubled script procedures but these are small pickings and are easily outdone by a first-rate cast and Lee's directing skills.
Solid entertainment.
Camera Obscura --- 8/10