 Inside
Man
 
Starring:
Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Jody Foster, Willem DaFoe
Directed by: Spike
Lee
Bluntly
speaking? Inside Man is an intelligent fast-paced urban cops-and-robbers
bank heist flick that keeps its delightful twist-riddled ending properly hidden,
while exposing just enough to keep suspense junkies jonesin' to the last frame.
Inside Man works in equal parts due to Spike Lee's intuitive direction,
and Russell Gewirtz's realistically tinged script which is delivered by a heavy
hitting cast of true talents. Well done indeed, didn't see this coming. Story
goes…it's a pleasant day in the big apple as one of the largest banks in
Manhattan is about to be robbed. Faster than you can say, "Darn that Denzel
looks swell in dress shirts…" the bank is taken over by a group of bandits
and el pronto in high alert hostage mode. Detective
Frazier (the fore mentioned slice-o-yum Densel Washington) is called in to negotiate
on behalf of the hostages…but this is no ordinary Dog Day Afternoon in Gotham.
There's something more than meets the Ben Franklins stacked six feet high in that
there vault.
Yes there is... As
the situation spirals, Det. Frazier is approached by a piranha in Prada disguised
as a lady. Enter Ms. White (Jody Foster). Ms. White represents someone - who shall
be unnamed - who very much wishes a particular safety deposit box within the bank-under-seige
is to be left status quo. Her client would prefer this pesky little robbery thingy
does not expose delicate skeletons within his Park Aveneue closet. Hmm,
that's odd. Meanwhile,
the robbers, lead by Dalton aka Steve (aka Schnookyboo Clive Owen) are steadfast
at making the usual demands bank robbers do.- But, this time one immediately gets
the feeling even the bank robbers seem to know their plethora of high-ticket requests
will never be fulfilled. Are they stalling? Certainly they understand no bank
robber in the history of haughty heists has actually received the mythical fueled
jet to exit stage left to Tijuana… But,
why would they want to stall? And what's up with them leaving all that moolah
- untouched? Say, is this a bank robbery at all? That's
the fun part of this surprising and well-done thriller - you just don't know.
The story and the dialog is whip fast and cuttingly clever without taking itself
too serious. The results is plain old fun, mixed into an action filled frolic
for all. Speaking
of folks who you'd wanna frolic about with...Handsome McHotster, Mr. Clive Owen,
sadly plays most of his role as the smart-bad-guy beneath a beauty-hiding fabric
mask. Drat. He's about six foot of uncut man heroin and the film maker's - oblivious
to his man powers - costume the bloke up in painter's overalls, a mask, and Jackie
O. sunglasses for ninety percent of his screen time. A comparible cruelty - to
give you the scope of the studio's disregard for their audience's pleasure lobe
part of the cranium - would be matched in mental and visual agony only, by say,
a feature-length documentary on the development of Jar Jar Binks done on low-grade
HD, via steady cam, narrated by Paris Hilton attempting a Jamaican accent. But,
then there's the ever-delish main course dish of Denzel Washington. This tall
scrumptious lad just seems to get sweeter on the retina with age, and is always
tre' cool. Here, DW is given an actual film - with intelligent dialog and seemless
plotting - to show of his manly talents - all of them. And a resounding, "
about time," could be heard in an unspoken hush among the viewers... And
while we are talking about - about time that big star showed some something -
a big old slice of redemption pie is served up by Ms. Jody Foster. Here, Jode
is superb as the nefarious Ms. White - the ice-queen governmenty-style agenty-sort
with a heaping helping of hidden valley agenda upon her plate. Ms. Foster can
keep the $12.50 she owed me from her last film faux pas. Inside
Man is wonderful. The folks behind and in front of the lens serve up an exciting
film. They've managed to take a claustrophobic landscape, mix up a genre enough
to breath a bit of life to it, and keep their third act hand held firmly as far
as letting the caper's cards unfold, keeping the audience actually interested
and wondering all the way through. Enjoy. Snack
recommendation: Pizza and bottled water . | 
