Very polished heist movie

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2006)

Intelligent, professionally made, very polished, and still with the streak of independence that has made Spike Lee's movies so famous, Inside Man demonstrates how to have a commercial cops-and-robbers movie that still retains artistic integrity and the power to entertain, thrill, and engage an adult audience. It's fast moving and witty, keeps you guessing to the end, and is sufficiently mentally stimulating to inspire conversation on the way home without intruding on your apres-cinema meal.
Clive Owen is the heist mastermind, relating his perfect crime to the camera at outset before going to flashback. Denzel Washington is the New York detective who specialises in hostage negotiation. Christopher Plummer is the chairman of the bank's board of directors and maybe has more to lose than just the money. He consults Jodie Foster, a mysterious and powerful top-notch 'fixer'  a power-broker who can deliver.
As the bank robbers lock themselves in, NYPD swing into action with crowd control (heavy-handed of course), an array of impressive equipment, and radio transmitters in pizza boxes. It's a convincing and exciting picture of Manhattan in full flow. Interspersed throughout the movie, post-bank-break-in testimonials from the hostages offer tantalising clues, but Owen and Washington are extremely clever at second guessing each other so you have to work hard to outwit both of them. The official website has an eight-page 'Hostage Negotiator's Handbook' as well as test scenarios in case you want to practice your skills first, but you'll need to be very smart to figure out the bottom line and how it's being achieved until all is revealed.
Spike Lee, normally more at home making hard-hitting social commentary films, shows he is more than capable of turning out a faultless thriller (though he doesn't miss the chance to have a dig at policy brutality, racism and a few of his other favourite topics in passing). At over two hours long, mostly spent on a state of siege inside and outside the bank, Lee performs an admirable job in maintaining tension in the absence of car chases, murders and explosions. The 'hostage debriefings' are shot with subdued, almost greenish light, and contrast with the bright colours of the main action. The script is cleverly written, both in the ingeniousness of its plot and with its occasional burst of welcome humour. Actors are well-cast and used to best advantage, from Owen's insidious genius and Washington's intelligent rage to Jodie Foster who is a bit like a latter day Mata Hari that can put either of them in their place and almost without pausing for breath.
This is a film that isn't the mindless, run-off-the-mill bank-robbery movie that audiences could be forgiven for expecting in the first half-hour, so it may disappoint those who wanted something less challenging. Inside Man, with its all-American credentials, never patronises its audience. Although there are some moral dimensions worth pondering, it doesn't have the angst-ridden agendas or unevenness of Spike Lee's earlier movies and is undoubtedly the director's most mature movie to date.