Inside Man

This is my first movie review. I’m not sure if I’ll continue but I thought that I’d like to give a shot at using my knowledge of film to help educate those around me and to either recommend or not recommend a film. I guess I should give you a reason as to why I want to write about film… I absolutely love watching to films at the theaters. I have over 500 movies in my collection and know a lot of movie trivia that people probably shouldn’t know. The websites that I check daily are Rotten Tomatoes, SlashFilm, Moviefone, and IMDb.

But, I should get to my first review. A few weeks ago, I watched Inside Man with my roommates. I’ve seen this film many times and no matter how many times I see it, there are always subtle things that I have missed that I catch up on. The film was directed by Spike Lee and released in the spring of 2006. I should let you know that I didn’t see it in theaters. I bought it in 2008, if I recall correctly.

The first time I watched Inside Man, I was blown away. The cast is amazing. The story is original. The direction is unique to other films of the same genre. The cast features Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Christopher Plummer. Denzel Washington, whom I’m sure you have heard of is a two-time Academy Award winner. Clive Owen is probably a little less known but is breaking big in America. He is a British actor best known for Children of Men, a cult science-fiction film released in 2007. Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer have both been in the entertainment business for numerous years and add great supporting roles that add an extra dimension to the film. Chiwetel Ejiofor is least known actor of these but has been steadily building his career through his great supporting roles in American Gangster, 2012, Salt, and Children of Men.

Anyway, the film is not about the actors that act in it; it’s about the story. The plot of the story revolves around a bank robbery. Dalton Russell (Owen) is the bank robber. Keith Frazier (Washington) and Mitchell (Ejiofor) are the detectives. Russell is not your every day robber though; he has taken everything into account including the entrance, robbery, and even his exit. He is a perfectionist and the smartest robber that either detective has either dealt with. With every move Frazier makes, it seems as though Russell is one step ahead of them. The bank president (Plummer) enlists the help of a high-profile negotiator (Foster) to help him secure a safety deposit box at the scene of the robbery. The heist takes place throughout the day, and this heist will go down as one of the most elaborate that we have ever seen.

The director of the film is Spike Lee. He is most known for Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and this film. He does something fairly atypical for this film. He directs the film in two parts interlocked. His film compromises of the present, placed during the time when Frazier and Mitchell are interrogating the hostages, and the past, placed during the bank robbery itself.

It’s an extremely well-done film that reveals a different perspective to the over-played bank robbery story. Spike Lee obtained a great cast for the film and the storytelling was very good as well. My rating for the film is 5 stars/ 5 stars. It is one of the best movies I have seen and one of my favorites.