Inside Man

Shock news. I actually enjoyed Clive Owen in a movie! Not only that, but I really thought Inside Man was a pretty damn fine flick. It has a nostalgia for great heist movies of the past where a group of robbers take hold of a bank aganist a team of cops trying to negoiate with them and get each hostage out alive. All the while there is a higher matter at stake, as a third party watches closely at the proceedings. The movie's strength is on Russell Gerwitz's clever script, which equally balances the narrative between cool robber Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) and Dectective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) as they each try and outdo each other with their wit and daring. The movie works best in the moments of their cat-and-mouse game of "bank heist" poker. Not usually my favourite actor but Clive Owen stole the show in this film for me... Is it wrong that I kind of wanted him to get away with it and not get caught? The rest of the cast does a good job. Jodie Foster has great presence in her scenes although the character she was playing was pretty redudant and unessceary. I also didn't like the "third party" plot with Christopher Plummer and I felt like it took a little away from the great duel between Washington and Owen. The ending too I wasn't all that keen on and felt it was a big let down (like they usually are for this type of film) but for 2/3rd's of Inside Man I was hooked.

rating: 3.5

A thoroughly entertaining heist movie from Spike Lee which is a welcome change for the director and although it has it's flaws, it's well acted and clever enough to be recommended.