Review: Inside Man
Inside Man represents a welcome return to form for Spike Lee after recent drek like She Hate Me. 
Any movie whose soundtrack begins with a rousing Bollywood filmi number (without dancers, alas) is going to win friends, even if there is nothing even vaguely Indian about the film. OK, there’s a Sikh in it who is mistaken for an Arab. Such openings may smack of Spike Lee in full gratuitous mode, but Inside Man brings style and substance into near harmony.
Clive Owen plays the cerebral bank robber with a plan to execute the perfect heist. Denzel Washington is the world-wise cop (complete with trademark Denzel grin and verbal suavité) whose job it is to make sure Owen doesn’t walk out of the bank’s front door a free man (as Owen has promised to do). Christopher Plummer is the billionaire bank owner with a dirty secret in the vault, a secret that the film sensibly reveals early on. Inside Man is not about the secret, it’s about the heist that the secret makes possible. Hint: if Christopher Plummer had a dirty secret, what do you think it would be? Think elderly Swiss bankers. (Oh, Christopher, why the hell didn’t you burn the bloody thing?)
Lee brings his trademark urban zip to Inside Man. It’s not as slick as Ocean’s Eleven and Clive Owen is no George Clooney. Still, he’s come a long way from his woeful miscasting in King Arthur, although I think Natalie Portman and he must have made some pact on the set of Closer to murder each other’s accents in a future film: Owen’s Yank/Brit is only slightly better than Portman’s Yank/Cockney/South African in V for Vendetta. Willem Defoe is useful in his limited role. Chiwetel Ejiofor is brilliant as Denzel’s sidekick; Americans who aren’t familiar with him (Kinky Boots? Serenity?) should definitely start memorizing his name.
Inside Man is not a perfect movie. Chief among its flaws is Jodie Foster’s character, whose subplot causes the film to fall a little flat in the last half hour. But, if you like clever heists and Bollywood music, Inside Man should satisfy. And if you’re a bank robber, watch carefully: these guys had one hell of a plan.
8/10
good — I was on the fence about this one, but now I’m feeling convinced to see it. Thanks young Ronan!
Comment by Supergenius — March 29, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
I saw this last night. I thought it was good, but not great. The structure was odd; the way Lee orders the scenes (especially where he put the interrogation scenes) brought down the pace of the movie. It wasn’t all that bad, but it kept me from really getting into it.
I also didn’t think it was as clever as many reviews have said. Except for the one big twist, it seemed pretty generic.
But I agree with the acting described above. Ejiofer is brilliant.
Comment by Pris — March 31, 2006 @ 9:21 am
I just saw this movie today and I loved the soundtrack, too! The acting was just okay. Denzel Washington is usually much better - not to mention Jodie Foster (but her calves looked INCREDIBLE! She must be doing some serious time on the treadmill). And I thought the civil rights speeches Spike Lee made his characters give were a bit trite. But I have to say, my biggest disappointment with this movie was that Clive Owen had his face covered almost the entire time. If I would have known that beforehand, I would have gone to see Basic Instinct 2 instead.
Comment by Elisabeth — April 1, 2006 @ 7:38 pm