Makes the Case For On-Line Banking

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2018)

A compelling heist movie with some unique twists. Fairly even performances, especially from Washington and Plummer. There's some clever plot devices; the foreshadowing, though a bit confusing, adds energy, and builds anticipation .
Forcing the hostages to dress like the robbers was a great idea, as it made the subsequent escape plausible. Since no one knew what the robbers looked like, interrogating the bus load of hostages became a frustrating exercise for Washington and his cohorts. The robbers treated the hostages better than the police. That blurring of good guy/bad guy divides our sympathy between Washington and Owen.
That leaves room for the Nazi-collaborator Arthur Case (Plummer) to emerge as the actual bad guy. The 'robbers' only steal incriminating evidence to blackmail Plummer. But why not break in at night so they don't have to fuss with fifty hostages and a ton of cops? I guess we had to make room for Jodie Foster.
Her role makes no sense. She takes over an enormous police situation, with no standing or credentials. That snapped my suspension of disbelief. If she were the mayor, and insinuated herself into the crisis, it might just add up. As far as the police are concerned, she should be no more than just another onlooker. Exposing a war criminal is sufficient motive for Owen to go after Plummer; we don't need a whole subplot with Foster to establish that. She goes through her many scenes with a smug grin, lapsing into nearly
incomprehensible mumbling too often. Maybe give her Washington's role and she what she does with it.
As others have said, though Washington's Frazier is jovial, his demeanor fits. He's overwhelmed by the situation: his humor springs from exasperation, not over-confidence. That he relishes his advantage over Plummer in their last meeting is all the more convincing, as he's been successively surprised, scrutinized, dismissed, ignored, and even under suspicion.
One of his surprises came from the captain. I can't understand why he would just smile and say the whole deal is no big thing: no one hurt, nothing of (monetary) value taken, no suspects, no crime. That's absurd. Toy guns and fake murders or not, taking a heap of hostages, roughing up some of them, turning out half the police in the city, disrupting business, etc., are all crimes of some sort.
That the actual pilfering of the incriminating documents has a beneficial ulterior motive is beside the point. Does the captain have some ulterior motive too? What's the point of some misdeed hanging over Frazier? Thankfully, we have fairly slick pacing, cool dialogue, and enough good plot bits. The kid describing his sadistic video game to Owen, and the irritable construction worker going on about his Albanian ex-wife are gems.
In addition to Foster's underdeveloped character, there's a non-existent back story. By passing up Owen's planning of the crime, the film leaves out a crucial element of the heist genre. Owen's motivation makes sense, but why is he interested in Nazi war criminals? He's a few generations distant from WWII. And, what of his three accomplices? Why did they throw in with him? It would've made more sense if they were in it for the money; have a real robbery for them, and the war crimes documents for Owen.
Inside Man left detours and dead ends, but entertained all the same.