Clive Owen stars in Universal Picture’s Inside Man, Copyright 2006.

I’ve seen my share of heist movies; everyone has seen a good deal of the genre. Most of them take place in a bank; obviously because of the great deal of riches and what better a crime than a white collar one? Whenever people do go into a bank though you can always tell someone is nervous about their trip and they have seen way to many heist movies. Comedian Dane Cook has made a humorous joke involving making someone think you are about to stage a heist:

Ok, next time you go to the bank and don’t feel like waiting in line bring a pair of leather gloves with you. When you get there, tap the guy’s shoulder at the end of the line and start putting the gloves on and say, “Now would be a good time to leave.”

-Dane Cook

Never have I seen a heist movie that did not involve the long term holding of hostages. Why? Because this is how they keep the police at bay. But never in a heist film have I seen a robbery plan so complex and well planned as Inside Man.

In Spike Lee’s (Do The Right Thing) Inside Man we come fact to face with the criminal at the beginning of the film, Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) who appears to be sitting in a cell. He informs us that he never repeats anything twice and we must listen very carefully. He planned to execute the perfect bank robbery. Past tense, so we know he has not been killed in the end result.

We follow Dalton, who now appears to be dressed as a painter with sunglasses. He hops into a van labeled with information of a painting company with many others dressed as he. Arriving at the bank, he enters with flashlights and puts them down at the center counter in the lobby and uses these flashlights to block the security cameras via infrared. His comrades then enter the bank and start fastening the door with locking mechanisms. They tell everyone to get down on the floor.

Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington), a bald man with a small mustache who loves to kid around and make jokes with his partner, Det. Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor). The two arrive at the scene with a swat team and many emergency vehicles, including a mobile HQ managed by Captain Darius (Willem Dafoe). Frazier is informed by a local officer that if anyone approaches the door, two dead bodies will be thrown out of the bank.

Inside, the hostages are forced to strip down and put on painter’s outfits as well, complete with the sunglasses and forced to hand over their cell phones and car keys. The twenty or so hostages include many people of different ages and races, not surprising in a Spike Lee film.

Soon after the robbery is taken into affect, the chairman (Christopher Plummer, The New World) of the banks is contacted that one of his banks is being robbed. He is then contacted by some sort of private detective, Madeline White (Jodie Foster) who seems to think she can help him with his situation as well as get to his security box in which he holds a secret.

Spike Lee is great director and is easily one of the greatest African-American directors of our time as well as director of films dealing with prejudice and racism.

Areas in the film we are brought to future situations in which Washington’s character is interviewing the hostages and it asking them random questions all relatable to the robbery, they convinced that he is convinced that one of the hostages was responsible. There are other chunks like this in the film that left me little confused and unsure of the progression of the film not too mention make it seem slow moving. Were some scenes really necessary? Time-burners? Is that a word?

There is a point in the film in which one of the hostages are released and one is a Sikh. When he is stripped of the painters clothing and revealed, the swat teams panicks, “Oh shit, he’s a fucking Arab!” That scene is later handled in a coffee shop involving Denzel Washington very well. That also most certainly reflects the writing of Russell Gewirtz.

For Gerwirtz though, the writing could have been improved to a high degree. This especially when looking at Clive Owen’s character, then again his acting was decent but nothing special. His character seems one-dimensional and what we see what we get. In fact most characters in the film appear this way, except Washington’s character as well as one other.

A memorable scene involves Jodie Foster; the camera revolves many times between the two characters showing the debating view points and tension in the situation. Another includes Clive Owen removing his mask while alone inside a room in the bank.

The performance by Denzel Washington is convincing but appears to be more of a failed Bruce Willis role, but we are thankful that he wasn’t given the part. Jodie Foster’s character is well acted, but because of the way her part is put together, it is hard to tell which side she is on and on screen appears to be a mysterious figure. Clive Owen’s character is so underdeveloped besides the fact that he is attempting the perfect bank robbery. After his opening monologue you are asking yourself “…and?”

For the most part the film succeeds on many of its levels, including Spike Lee’s direction. However, the film’s writing could have helped the story’s flow and understanding of the characters. Story development is a lot like a plane, if one mechanical error is present it could result in the whole destruction of the flight—everyone and everything matters.

Rated R for language and some violent images. Running time 129 min.