An extremely entertaining heist flick

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2006)

I do not as a rule appreciate Denzel Washington movies. This movie however was quite enjoyable and had in my opinion a good performance from his side. Part of this I believe is exactly because of my dislike for the type of roles he (was perhaps forced/typecast to) played in the past. Instead of self-righteous persona his movie character came over a lot more human and believable, and proved to be entertaining.
As to the movie itself, the less said the better. Obviously, heist movies have been done before; they are a dime a dozen, and it is not so much "what will happen" as "how is it done". There's a bank, there are hostages and hostage takers, there is the police and there is the ton of loot.
We've seen the likes of Swordfish and Quick Change, from tragedy to comedy and from excellence to tedium. For me, Inside Man was an experience in excellence where the planning was surprising, the execution was well done and for me (unlike other reviews I had read later) the tedium did not set in during the later parts of the movie.
If you want to see a well-crafted movie with an original twist on a not so original story, definitely choose this; I know from experience you can do quite a lot worse. Pay good attention to everything the main character says and watch for the quick changes with hostages and hostage takers; you are bound to be in for a laugh afterwards once everything falls together.