2008 Woodie Awards
Inside Man
Movie review
Abigail Echols
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Entertainment
Inside Man is not your typical heist movie.
It is not only unusual because of its plot, but because of the direction. Going against character, Spike Lee creates a more mainstream film than he has ever done before. The film, like many of his others, deals with race relations and corruption amongst the powers that be. But this time the corruption stems from many different races and is not the central plot. Race is used as comedy and is never a direct issue.
The story centers on a robbery at a large bank in Manhattan. Four masked thieves led by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) barge into the bank and proceed to take the large crowd of patrons and employees hostage. When a cop inquires into the strange happenings at the bank the plot is set in motion. Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington) is sent in to head negotiations and try to take back control of the situation.
The plot is intriguing and thought provoking, but is anticlimactic and lacks the suspense one expects to find in a film that is marketed as a thriller. Although the film ends with an excellent plot twist, it is long coming and desperately needed to save the film from drifting into mediocre caper film obscurity.
It feels as if Spike Lee has lost all of his creativity here and made a completely unoriginal film. The story is slow and it seems that Lee has resorted to fancy camera tricks to atone for the lack of anticipation for future events. The camera pans quickly without focusing and it bounces out of time when characters walk causing a dizzying disorientation. The background either rushes the foreground or is quickly pulled away many times within the film, giving the impression that Lee has watched one too many Wes Craven movies. Steven Soderbergh's work is no longer safe from imposters either. The story cuts between the smooth, glossy looking picture to the grainy, overexposed style that Traffic brought to the world.
While this film is brought to audiences from many talented people, their productivity seems wasted. Jodie Foster tries to come off as hard-nosed but she just seems bored. The most squandered talent is Willem Dafoe, who is always one step away from being the antagonist. The script has him teetering on the brink of conflict, but never actually creating any drama.
The story is great at times but becomes slow at others and leaves the viewer wanting more. When focused on the good guy/bad guy back and forth, it is at its best and everything else seems like filler until the ending. The story makes for a forgettable movie but would have made for a remarkable book.
It is not only unusual because of its plot, but because of the direction. Going against character, Spike Lee creates a more mainstream film than he has ever done before. The film, like many of his others, deals with race relations and corruption amongst the powers that be. But this time the corruption stems from many different races and is not the central plot. Race is used as comedy and is never a direct issue.
The story centers on a robbery at a large bank in Manhattan. Four masked thieves led by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) barge into the bank and proceed to take the large crowd of patrons and employees hostage. When a cop inquires into the strange happenings at the bank the plot is set in motion. Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington) is sent in to head negotiations and try to take back control of the situation.
The plot is intriguing and thought provoking, but is anticlimactic and lacks the suspense one expects to find in a film that is marketed as a thriller. Although the film ends with an excellent plot twist, it is long coming and desperately needed to save the film from drifting into mediocre caper film obscurity.
It feels as if Spike Lee has lost all of his creativity here and made a completely unoriginal film. The story is slow and it seems that Lee has resorted to fancy camera tricks to atone for the lack of anticipation for future events. The camera pans quickly without focusing and it bounces out of time when characters walk causing a dizzying disorientation. The background either rushes the foreground or is quickly pulled away many times within the film, giving the impression that Lee has watched one too many Wes Craven movies. Steven Soderbergh's work is no longer safe from imposters either. The story cuts between the smooth, glossy looking picture to the grainy, overexposed style that Traffic brought to the world.
While this film is brought to audiences from many talented people, their productivity seems wasted. Jodie Foster tries to come off as hard-nosed but she just seems bored. The most squandered talent is Willem Dafoe, who is always one step away from being the antagonist. The script has him teetering on the brink of conflict, but never actually creating any drama.
The story is great at times but becomes slow at others and leaves the viewer wanting more. When focused on the good guy/bad guy back and forth, it is at its best and everything else seems like filler until the ending. The story makes for a forgettable movie but would have made for a remarkable book.