Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
This 2006 Spike Lee Joint takes a similar framework of cops surrounding robbers and turns it into an altogether more mysterious affair than the character piece of Dog Day Afternoon.
We’re introduced to Denzel Washington’s Detective Keith Frazier with the cloud of an internal affairs investigation hanging over him, but he’s nonetheless called on to lead the police response to a bank robbery turned hostage situation. Clive Owen’s Dalton Russell and his gang have rolled up to a Manhattan bank, announced their intentions and got to work dressing the hostages in the same boiler suit get-up as they sport, but don’t seem all that obsessed with the cash, strangely enough.
The bank’s owner, Christopher Plummer’s Arthur Case, is worried about the situation for more than just the obvious reasons, and hires a fixer in the shape of Jodie Foster’s Madeleine White to see that certain things stay buried.
The awkward part in all of this turns out to be Detective Frazier, who understandably does not like being told to look the other way or to stop pursuing paths of investigation, balancing this along with managing the response to Russell’s changing demands, even as his suspicions of their ultimate intent grows, all the way to the unexpected ending where they appear to melt away into a crowd without having taken anything.
Of course, things are not what they seem, and the path to the ultimate reveal of what’s going on has a few twists and turns and is never less than entirely engaging. It helps, of course, that so much of the film features Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, both of whom I’d happily watch reading a phone book, and the top rate supporting cast – Foster, Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor: there’s no-one slacking on this production.
Spike Lee is a filmmaker that I always intend to watch more of, and somehow never do, so I’m not well placed to judge the Spike-Lee-i-ness of the film, but I can say that it’s really well shot, paced and edited, so that’s a good thing, I suppose.
I’m a little surprised to see that Russell Gewirtz wrote this. Surprised, because this is a very interesting story with snappy dialogue, and he also wrote Righteous Kill, which was very much the opposite. I suppose in less talented hands the dialogue might not play quite so well, but thankfully there’s no shortage of safe pairs of hands here.
There’s perhaps little in the way of capital A artistry here for Inside Man to echo down the ages, but it’s a really enjoyable heist based mystery and a great way to spend a couple of hours. I recommend you do so.