Right OK, I feel I should apologise for the rather harsh title (which certainly wasn't the tagline for the film!) but this post will be on the Spike Lee film, Inside Man, starring Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, which features that very crude but memorable line. So let's give this one a look....
So starting with the usual plot stuff the film is set in New York City in 2006, and at the start of the film a robbery takes place, carried out by a group of thieves dressed as painters who wear masks and all use variants of the alias of "Steve". The leader of the group, revealed in the title sequence to be a man named Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) forces the hostages in the bank to dress up in painters clothes identical to their own. The robbers than move the hostages between different rooms and they even mix in as one of the hostages as well to throw further confusion on the situation. And while this is going the other robbers are carrying out a project which involves demolishing the floor of one of the bank's empty storage rooms. And its not long before the police arrive on the scene as the crime scene is headed up by detectives Keith Frazer (Washington) and Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who take control of the negotiations.
Russell in the meantime issues his demands that he wants food for the hostages and the police give them pizzas, which have listening devices contained in the boxes. Russell and his team however anticipate this as they play a tape of a language, which the police eventually identify as Albanian and it is in fact a tape recording of a former Albian communist leader Enver Hoxha. Meanwhile the chairman of the board of directors and founder of the Manhattan trust bank, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) on hearing of the robbery contacts a fixer, Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to protect the contents of the safe deposit box in the bank. White then goes down to the bank and with the approval of Frazer, she enters the bank to negotiate with Russell, who tells her that the contents of the safe box, which includes documents from Nazi Germany. Russell implies to White that Case used funds while cooperating with the Nazis to start his bank but as a result it leads to the deaths of many Jewish people during WWII. White then tells Russell that Case is willing to pay him a large sum of money if he destroys the contents of the box, which Russell turns down.
After this Frazier goes into the bank as he demands to do an inspection to check the hostages are safe, on being shown around and lead to the door, Frazier attacks Russell, nearly pulling his mask off, however the other robbers stop him, and Frazier leaves the bank. Frazier later says to his fellow officers that he deliberately tried to provoke Russell and judged from his reactions that he wasn't a killer. However at this point Russell sends the police a strong message proving otherwise as he has one of the hostages killed. The execution then puts the police force's emergency unit team into action where they storm the bank. Although Russell having anticipated this eventuality rolls gas grenades and has the hostages sent out of the bank in the ensuing confusion, leaving the police confused as to who is a robber and who is not. After this all the hostages are questioned (which also includes the other robbers except Russell) but with no real way of ascertaining who the robbers were and also as there was no real evidence of an actual robbery, added to the fact that the robbers guns were plastic fakes, Frazer's commanding officer has him drop the case. However Frazer isn't satisfied and for the rest of the film he is intent on trying to get to the bottom of the robbery and what actually happened....
Inside Man for me remains one of Spike Lee's best and most accessible films and here Lee has made a very entertaining and gripping crime thriller which keeps you guessing to the very end how things will end. However the film itself lends alot to the 1970s crime drama film Dog Day Afternoon starring Al Pacino, which was also based on a robbery, albeit a real life one in contrast to this. Lee in his previous films has always made some sort of social commentary, which goes right back to his debut Do the right thing. And while Lee has made a fairly conventional crime drama here, he still utilises his social commentary in the film as well, such as how Sikh's and African Americans are treated in New York, and even also on how America's youth has become so disaffected by the violence they see on TV and in video games that they play. This is most noted in the amusing yet somewhat troubling scene where Russell takes one of the young hostages out of the rooms for a break and he plays a violent video game a la GTA style, where one black video game characters kills another, but sticking a grenade in his mouth! And this has always been a key part of Lee's films in which he reflects on the attitudes of today in American culture, such as gangsta rap, video games and crime among African-Americans.
Moving onto the performances, everything is pretty crap here... not! No the performances are top notch, starting with Denzel Washington who plays his part of the ambitious and charismatic detective, Keith Frazer to perfection. Washington has several highlights in the film that include the scenes where Frazer talks to Russell on the phone and when he meets him face to face in the bank. And Washington has his share of great dialogue such as in the scene where he first talks to Clive Owen on the phone, as Russell tells Frazer that "this time next week I'll be sucking down Pina Coladas in a hot tub with six girls named Amber and Tiffany". And Frazer replies "More like taking a shower with two guys named Jamal and Jesus, if you know what I mean. And here's the bad news: that thing you're sucking on? Its not a pina colada!". And later when they meet in the bank, Frazer tells Russell that his girlfriends wants them to get married but they have money problems, and Russell says "If you love each other then the money shouldn't matter" and Frazer sarcastically says "Oh thank you! Thank you robber! I'm learning so much today!". And Frazer's character is also very smart just like Russell and he can see through his fake demands, and in one scene he says it outright to Russell "You've got everbody beating to your drum, including me, but I'm through buying it!".
Washington also shares some amusing moments where he questions the hostages from the bank, such as a traumatised old lady and he teases her by saying "Did you rob the bank??! Did you??". Washington also has some good moments where Frazer uses his sharp wit on the public, such as in the scene where he enters a restaurant to face White, and the maitre d says "May I have your hat, sir?" and Frazer snaps "No you cannot, get your own!". And when he talks to his fellow cops he says regarding Russell's robbery and the scam "the last time i had my johnson pulled this good it cost five dollars. It was in Tiajuana. Don't ask!".
Which brings me onto Clive Owen who is really good in his role as Dalton Russell, the robber who has planned the "perfect robbery". Owen starts off in the film really well as being pretty sinister, especially in the scene where he has everyone strip their clothes and put on the painter outfits and he tells everyone to hand over their cell phones and watches and one man doesn't do it. And as the man tries to bluff Russell, Russell warns him "Think very carefully about you answer the next question, because if you get it wrong, then your headstone will read "Here lies Peter Hammond, who valiantly attempted to prevent a brilliant bank robbery by hiding his cell phone, but instead wound up getting shot in the fucking head!". And Russell then goes through all the mobile phones and picks one out, which has his name in it and he rings and we hear the man's phone ring in the nearby office, and Russell tells him "don't worry about it" as he hums and haws he goes back out and takes the man inside the office and beats him up, before emerging in front of the scared hostages "Anyone else think they're smarter than me??!". Owen also shares some really good scenes with Washington, such as where Frazer refuses to buy Russell's demands for a bus and a plane, and he says to Frazer "You're too damn smart to be a cop, now get the fuck out of here! Tell them to send someone sane over here!". Owen also shares a good scene with Jodie Foster when White meets with Russell in the bank and he tells her of Arthur Case's dealings with the Nazis during the war. And he says to White "The fact is all lies, all evil deeds, they stink. You can cover them up for a while but they don't go away!".
Jodie Foster is also excellent in her role as the power broker, Madeline White, who is sent by Case once he hears word of the robbery. Foster clearly seems to relish in playing her part of the manipulative and devious power broker as she toys with her associates. Foster's scenes with Washington and Owen are really good, and her best moment comes when she talks to Frazer after he chat with Russell and she warns him "Careful inspector, my bite is much worse than my bark!". Foster's first scene is quite amsuing as she meets with the mayor of New York who invites her into his office and he bluntly asks here "What the fuck do you want?!" and at the end of their meeting he says "You are one magnificent cunt!" and White smiles and says "Thank you". Christopher Plummer is also very good in his role as well as Arthur Case, the founder of the Manhattan trust bank who has a dark past as he did business with the Nazis during the war, as he made his blood money, and Russell is intent on digging up those evil deeds.
The supporting cast are also excellent which includes Chiwetel Ejiofor as Bill Mitchell, Frazer's partner and both actors have an excellent rapport with one another during the film. Chi's best scene comes when Bill says to Frazer "Let me see you shoe? Cos I have never seen anyone put their foot that far up a guy's ass! Man you cut him an ass the length of the Lincoln tunnell!". Chi also has an amusing moment during the questioning scenes where they question one of the hostages at the bank, who has a rather nice chest and he inadvertently stares at her cleavage and she says "Why don't you take a picture? I can bend over if you want!". And lastly Willem Dafoe also provides a fine performance as the police Captain John Darius who is on the crime scene with the detectives and he faces a logistical nightmare in figuring out how to storm the bank later on as "anyone in those outfits could be a hostage or a perp!".
Direction wise Spike Lee does a great job here as he keeps the pacing of the film tight and the energy high throughout. Lee also cleverly infuses his social commentary along with the conventions of the robbery, which are ironically rather unconventional given the nature of the robbery, as the hostages are all dressed the same as the criminals and its hard to tell who is who! He also pokes a bit of fun at racial aggro between the ethinic minorities in New York, in the scene where the Sikh who works at the bank has his turban removed from his head and he demands it bank and he says how he is fed up with being harrassed at airports etc, and Frazer says "I bet you can get a cab though!" which actually referenced an incident involving the actor Danny Glover, who one time years ago in New York was refused a taxi fare by a cabbie. And getting on to the music, longtime collaborator and composer for Lee, Terence Blanchard provides a fine score for the film, which is suitably tense, dramatic and even at times atmospheric.
As for the film's flaws, is there any???? Well not too many as it happens as Inside Man is very carefully crafted and intelligent film. Although one or two niggles that stand out for me is perhaps the plot does start to get a bit convoluted towards the end and the ending may actually leave you a bit confused as to what is going on. I also felt that the one scene that was a bit silly in the film was the moment where Frazer plays the tape recording that the robbers broadcasted in the bank on the PA outside in the streets and when he asks onlookers what language it is, he almost instantly get's the right reply as one man says "Yeah its Albanian!". I mean I just think it would take maybe just a BIT longer than that in reality to get a reply to that one, as I wouldn't imagine linguistics would be every New Yorker's strength! (and it sure wouldn't be mine!). More likely in reality they would be chasing their tails going round the streets of New York before they could find the answer to that, but for the sake of conventions in cinema, Lee decides to make this moment ridiculously easy!
Howeverrrr despite that, Inside Man still remains a highly entertaining and enrgossing crime drama and one of Spike Lee's best films (if not his best) and its well worth a watch if you haven't already seen it.
And so I will bid yeee farewell right there.
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