INSIDE MAN Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Universal Pictures
Grade: A-
Directed by: Spike Lee
Written by: Russell Gewirtz
Cast: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster,
Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew
Gomez, Kim Director, James Ransone
Screened at: AMC 34th St., NYC, 3/25/06
Opens: March 24, 2006 When the celebrated Brooklyn bank robber, Willie Sutton, was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “That’s where the money is!” Every since then, people who wear ski masks and pull guns in banks have gone after the green. Imagine going through all the trouble of planning and executing a bank robbery in the heart of New York’s financial district and then leaving without any money! Is that a perfect crime? You’d hardly think so, but then again, who says that everyone who sticks up a bank wants money? Perhaps we’re not giving away too much information in a review to say that “Inside Man” is about something else–yes, in truth, there can be something of value in a bank besides money. Spike Lee, in his most commercial movie to date, and Denzel Washington, in his most complex role, create one of the great bank heist pics of all. “Inside Man” is easily the equivalent in quality to Sidney Lumet’s great 1973 movie, “Serpico”--about a New York City undercover cop whose nonconformism and exposure of rotten apples in the police department led to his ostracism and worse by his colleagues on the force. Moreover, Lee’s new movie has all the complexity of Harvey Kahn’s 2005 film, “The Deal,” about illegal oil trading, the Russian mafia, and governmental cover-ups. But be warned. If you don’t like politics, if you don’t know from politics, the movie may pass you by both thematically and as a lesson in ethics, even if you are aware that men involved in big business and the higher-ups in government are on the take. If you’re young, slept through certain lessons in your history class, and never read a newspaper, you’re not the target audience. This is a movie for people with a degree of sophistication and not for those who look forward to police stories with crashing squad cars and innocent people blown away like figures in Grand Theft Auto. On the surface, this could have been a typical caper flick with the usual cliches. We’ve all seen movies about the taking of scared hostages, some of whom are self-destructive enough to encourage a bullet in the brain. We already know that higher-ups–the suits, the executive in $2000 suits, the politicians--are part of the problem and not the solution. We’ve seen movies about cops who seem ready to bust dope dealers but instead take off with the white powder themselves for re-sale–to other cops. Maybe we want yet another police drama like the ones we’ve seen in the past–in much way an eight-year-old hungers to see “Bambi” and “The Wizard of Oz” fifty times. That’s comforting. This time, the comfort level is soon dispensed with demanding some creative thinking by the audience–as did Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana,” for example. Four masked gunmen take over a bank in Manhattan’s Wall Street area wearing painters’ outfits, masks covering their noses and mouths, some with dark shades for the eyes. The fifty people taken hostage are a mosaic of New York life, including a Sikh (who is mistaken for an Arab), an older woman (who refuses to remove her clothes even at the pain of being shot), an obnoxious cellphone user, and an eight-year-old with a portable vidgame that features guys who shoot other guys for no reason. (When asked whether he was afraid to be a hostage, the kid says, “Me? No. I’m from Brooklyn.” My kind of guy.) Keith Frazer (Denzel Washington), hostage negotiator who is suspected of taking $140,000 some time back, is partnered with Detective Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejoifor), the two giving lip to Capt. John Darius (Willem Dafoe) who wants the credit to go to himself. Turf battles are part of the genre. The gang has obviously planned the heist for a while, knowing how to disable the surveillance cameras, and has enough clothing and masks to outfit the entire group of hostages so there are no potential witnesses--seeing that everyone looks alike. Meanwhile, the bank’s founder and CEO of a chain of such institutions, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), is so worried about what the robbers will uncover with no monetary value that he hires a high-priced power broker, Madeline White (Jodie Foster), to negotiate some business with the mayor. As hostage negotiations go on, with red herrings, demands of the masked ones for a jumbo jet, and other police business, we not only get clues about Dalton Russell’s real agenda, but become privy to how race still plays a part in our society. (The racial conflicts, however, are not forced down our throats and despite Spike Lee’s special perspectives as a black director, he does not intend racial friction to be more than a passing issue.) Some of the activities are not motivated in the usual way. Loose ends are not tied up, but that’s all to the good. Let the audience figure out the motivations and worry about plot holes. A film that is not a documentary can be riveting despite some logical lacunae and with characters who have no history that we know of. We don’t know why Clive Owen’s Dalton Russell does what he does but can make reasonable assumptions. This is part of the challenge for an audience, but here’s a clue. Look at the older man sitting in a getaway car, a guy who looks out of place cast among people decades younger. A script this wise and witty, cool and hip, clever and classy as this one is not usually from the laptop of a first-time writer, but credit Russell Gewirtz as a potential nominee for best director and certainly best first-time director for those organizations that entertain such awards. This is one helluva police story! Rated R. 128 minutes 2006 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
