The always interesting film-maker Spike Lee turns his hand to what appears to be a fairly standard subject – a cops and robbers crime movie. However, Lee assembled a high calibre cast for Inside Man, including his long-term leading man Denzel Washington (Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X), Clive Owen (Children of Men, Derailed), Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer (Syriana), Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity, Kinky Boots).
This well received thriller has a complex, twisting plot reminiscent of Dog Day Afternoon. Owen plays the mastermind behind a bank heist but it turns into a hostage situation, leading to a battle of wits with a New York detective (Washington). The arrival of a trouble-shooter (Foster) sent by the bank’s owner to look after the valuable assets in the vault complicates matters even more.
For a Spike Lee ‘joint’, it’s a some way from Do the Right Thing or his earnest 2006 documentary When the Levees Broke and closer to slightly more Hollywood mainstream fare, like his 2002 film The 25th Hour, but it should still be well worth checking out.
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