Interesting Spike Lee Film that Fails to Finish

Rating: 7/10 (10 April 2015)

An Interesting Director, Spike Lee, if the Not the Most Subtle. He has an Excellent Eye and Loves to do Camera Flourishes and Off Beat Montages. But When it Comes to Characters and Character Speak, He More Often than Not Strays Far from Realism and Ventures Into In-Your-Face Platitudes and Stereotypes.
This is a Good Heist Movie with a Stellar Cast and Keeps You Mostly on the Edge of Your Seat, Until it Doesn't. The Ending is Weak and Unsatisfying, All the While Wallowing in its "Cleverness", Parading Itself Around with a "Look at Me" Glare that is About as Subtle as a Pole Stripper.
But Getting to the End is the Fun, and Lee is Patient Getting You There, Filling the Film with His Typically Heavy Handed Social and Political Commentary. There are the Usual Suspects, Like Racist Cops, Fat Cat Followers of Satan, the Nazis, the Jews, and the Most Overused Spike Lee Target, White People. He Just Can't Help Himself.
Overall, Not a Bad Time Waster but a Let Down in the End. Spike Lee and Denzel Washington Fans will be Kinder than Most. Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster Seem to be There for Some (Caucasian) Name Power. Christopher Plummer is Set Up to be Central to the Whole Thing but Spike Lee Seems Reluctant to Turn on the Gas, and Fire Up the Oven.