Inside Man (2006)

[ZapRowsdower]

This is my first Spike Lee joint. From what I've heard about him, he's pretty much hit and miss. What attracted me to this movie was not that he was directing it, but that three of my favorite actors were in it: Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen. To see those three together in the same movie is quite an event to say the least.

Say what you will about Spike Lee's past projects, but Inside Man was a well-crafted suspense thriller that stands above recent entries to the genre. When the movie was over, my friends mentioned that I remained quiet throughout the entire movie. Usually, I comment and often times give movies the MST3K treatment, even if I find them good. Inside Man was different. Inside Man was a rare instance where I was literally left with nothing to say. That can only mean one thing...

This was a perfect film. In terms of screenwriting, direction, story structure, and acting Inside Man was a perfect movie. Newcomer Russell Gewirtz has written some great dialogue the likes of which I haven't seen in quite some time within this genre. The story is so refreshingly original- no wonder I had nothing to say. This breaks away from convention.

Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and Clive Owen in the same movie... Christ, that was already more than I could handle. Best of all, they all seemed to be in top form. Maybe the story did run a little long, but watching these actors, I really didn't care.

Inside Man is a film-noirish heist film with depth and poignant social commentary, and as of now is the best film of 2006. It has also encouraged me to check out some of Spike Lee's work. Maybe he's messed up a few times, but this movie shows he's got potential.

Story: 10/10
Acting: 10/10
Screenwriting: 20/20
Direction: 20/20

100%

[Heineken Skywalker]

pulpmariachi said:

Just saw "Inside Man", which was pretty good especially for a 'Spike Lee Joint'. Gimme some time I'm gonna write a full review about it a little later. I'd give it a B...+

Wow, dude. Guess Pulp wasn't fast enough, huh?
Bad form.

[Pulpmariachi]

Nah, I gave it up for Smitty in payment for letting me do "Goblet of Fire".

I thought the movie was really good, and what I liked best out from it was that it didn't second-guess the audience. It's very intelligent with very intelligent characters and I think it lies in the fact that you're trying to figure out who is going to out-smart who.

The acting is great and I too love all the actors involved. Jodie Foster did a great bitch. There was some great camerawork despite the cliche-hostage-situation-handheld-camerawork, which was fortunatley good camerawork.

However, I only gave it a B+ and not Smitty's 100% because I felt the ending plodded along too long. It could have ended a bunch of times but it kept going like the Energizer bunny. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Spike Lee, even though I haven't seen many of his movies. I liked "Malcolm X," but the man himself annoys me (see: his cameo in "Hoop Dreams"). Still liked this movie though.

Highlight moment: after something happens in the bank and all the cops charge forward except for Denzel who sweeps through in some sort of surreal moment.

[Heineken Skywalker]

pulpmariachi said:

Nah, I gave it up for Smitty in payment for letting me do "Goblet of Fire".

Ah, I see. My apology, Smitty. Wasn't aware you guys had pm'd each other.

[Quorthon]

I'm somewhat interested in this film. But my finances may keep me from seeing it right now, especially since I blew my entertainment budget on The Libertine (check out the review, man!!), but it was worth it.

I'm also not a big fan of Spike Lee, especially after his egomaniacal fiasco when he tried to sue Spike TV for "using his name." His real name isn't even Spike!

I did like Summer of Sam. And I like Clive Owen, but I don't really care either way about Jodie Foster, and I don't like Denzel. So, there's some iffiness there for me.

[ZapRowsdower]

heinekenskywalker said:

pulpmariachi said:

Nah, I gave it up for Smitty in payment for letting me do "Goblet of Fire".

Ah, I see. My apology, Smitty. Wasn't aware you guys had pm'd each other.

No prob. ;D

[Phoenix]

The story is so refreshingly original- no wonder I had nothing to say. This breaks away from convention.

Is the story really that original? Because to me, the previews looked like a Dog Day Afternoon rip-off.

I'm guessing I"m totally wrong on this, as I'm pretty sure you've seen Dog Day Smitty?

[LivingDeadGirl]

The previews I've seen tout it as "the best heist movie since Dog Day Afternoon"....I've seen Dog Day, but not Inside Man yet so I can't compare the two. Maybe it was inspired by DD or maybe like you said it's a rip-off. In any case, I'd like to see it (though probably won't until it comes to dvd) b/c I like those kind of movies & I'm a big Denzel fan.

[Pulpmariachi]

They reference "Dog Day Afternoon" a bunch of times but the movie has some archetype similarities but they're not really the same.

SPOILER I GUESS

For example, motive is one big difference. As we all know Al Pacino robbed the bank to get money for his lover to undergo an MTF operation. Here, the main reason Clive Owen gives for robbing the bank is because he can.

Then again, I'm sure there's been plenty of other bank robbing movies before "Dog Day" huh?

[frankenjohn]

But of course, I will make the best heist movie ever and it will be called GETTING AWAY WITH ROBBERY!

The Plot: Four friends get drunk and piss off a wizard. The wizard turns them all into dogs. As dogs, they think they can steal all the money. So the enter the local bank, bite everyone's legs off, and carry the money out in their teeth. When the cops investigate the crime scene, they can only find dog prints. Then, the dogs get captured and brought to the pound, where they are adopted by four seperate familes. One night, they all turn back into humans and are chased out of the houses. Then, they all meet up and go back to the pound and rob the robbed money. They are eventually tracked down by the police (who turn out to be crooked) who steal their money. So then they report the cops and they are arrested as the people responsible for all the crimes. The money is returned to the bank, so they guys go to rob it again. They get into the back to find no money in the safe. Everyone (including the staff) is bewildered. It seems that the wizard transported the money to himself! Now he's in Cancun, getting away with robbery. That mut've been a "Dog Day Afternoon." Hahahahahaha!

[Heineken Skywalker]

Hey Frankenjohn, ever see the 70's movie, THE DOBERMAN GANG? The movie about dogs that are trained to rob a bank? I'm serious.

Anyway, saw INSIDE MAN tonight and thought it was pretty good, but as for entertainment value I didn't think it came close to DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, just not quite up to that level.
Great performances by everyone involved and I loved the execution of the heist.
My wife and I pretty much figured out Christopher Plummer's secret pretty early on though.
Smitty, I can't believe this is the first Spike Lee movie you've seen.

This movie has a real "Jones" for Al Pacino. They referenced three different movies of his, DOG DAY AFTERNOON and SERPICO by title, and Pacino's character in THE GODFATHER trilogy, Michael Corleone.

7.5/10

[ZapRowsdower]

From what I've heard about Lee, most of his movies are hardly Movie-police worthy.

...Maybe Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing.

[Heineken Skywalker]

It's not so much a case of whether his movies are Movie Police worthy or not, just that you see a lot of movies and he's been in the business a long time.
Besides DO THE RIGHT THING (1989), which is MP-worthy IMHO, and MALCOLM X (1992), I would also recommend you see 25th HOUR (2002) starring Edward Norton in a great performance, also 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997), GET ON THE BUS (1996), CLOCKERS (1995) and CROOKLYN (1994).
I personally still haven't seen SUMMER OF SAM (1999), JUNGLE FEVER (1991) or MO' BETTER BLUES (1990).