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Inside Man review
2006.03.28 — Entertainment | Movies | Movie Reviews | by Andrew Cole
I'd like to have the coupons back off those pizza boxes. [official site] |
Clive Owen made a splash as the cool-headed driver in BMW's short films. There is slightly less product placement (barely) in Inside Man, but Owen is as calm, cool, and collected as ever. Of course, Denzel Washington has made a living being large and in charge, so any movie that pits them against one another is promising a contest of fire and stone.
Washington is a police detective negotiator called in to deal with a bank heist gone wrong. Owen is the guy who planned and executed the heist. They're backed up by Christopher Plummer as the banker, Jodie Foster as his personal negotiator, Willem Dafoe as the SWAT team captain, and several red herrings.
This is the sort of movie where minor characters like first-cop-on-the-scene and guy-who-knows-what-weird-language-is-being-spoken actually get enough screen time that they become players in the plot.
That plot is clever, tense, mysterious, at times funny, and at times gut-wrenching. |
That plot is clever, tense, mysterious, at times funny, and at times gut-wrenching. It stumbles into few of the typical pitfalls of traditional heist movies. Owen boasts more than once that he has planned the heist to perfection, but we're never let in on exactly how he came by his knowledge.
The film was directed by Spike Lee, who is a promising new talent you should keep your eye on. That kid is gonna do well. It was written by newcomer Russell Gewirtz, who does a remarkable job with snappy dialog that makes the characters crackle. I don't think even one character shouted "You gotta get outa there!" or "Stay here and wait for me!"
The film was directed by Spike Lee, who is a promising new talent you should keep your eye on. |
The acting is top-notch by just about everybody. Washington is at turns wary, confident, chagrined, and horny—and believable at all turns. Owen is a cipher, but manages to play the character for depth in a few crucial scenes where we see his thought processes. I found Jodie Foster's high-powered corporate mediator to be a bit over-the-top, constantly smiling hollowly even when guns are being pointed at her. On the other hand, she's got legs like fine furniture. They seem not merely tanned, toned, and waxed but sanded, stained, varnished, and buffed to a high polish by skilled craftsmen.
But this is also the sort of movie you can watch a second or third time and still notice new details and gain more insight. |
Like many heist stories, the film has a secret. But this is also the sort of movie you can watch a second or third time and still notice new details and gain more insight. I'm sure in a second viewing I'd better catch the twists of how Owen's cohorts operate, for example, and the intricacies of their plan.
On the whole, the film keeps you guessing from beginning to end. Altho I found myself a step ahead of the main mystery, most people won't be. And there's more than one mystery, so there's plenty to keep anyone guessing. There are no car chases, no gratuitous brutality, and the only thing that explodes are F-bombs, so it's an abject failure as a blockbuster, scoring just .1 Bruckheimers. Heck, if it weren't for the F-bombs, this flick would get a PG-13 rating. But if you want an intelligent thrill ride, this is the ticket to stand in line for.
f e e d b a c k
Mark B writes:
re: Jodie Foster's legs. I guess you should have said, "She's got legs, and she knows how to use them"
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