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Three's Company for "Inside Man" |
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Written by ALAN SIMONIS
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Friday, 24 March 2006 |
In my previous review for the Harrison Ford action thriller “Firewall,” I commented that in order for a caper film to work, the heroes and villains need to compete on a level playing field. It doesn’t even matter whether the cops are the good guys and the robbers are the heavies, or vice versa - either way, if there’s no jeopardy for the protagonist, the movie suffers and the audience will lose interest.
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"Inside Man"
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 Entertainment
 Art
Directed by Spike Lee
Written by Russell Gewirtz
Starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster
Rated R for language and some violent images.
Released March 24, 2006
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Luckily when you have a film like Spike Lee’s “Inside Man,” which pits Denzel Washington up against Clive Owen (with a little Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer mixed in on the side), acting parity is not an issue. Owen is Dalton Russell, an enigmatic fellow who sets in motion what he describes as “the perfect bank robbery.” Early one morning, he and his accomplices storm into the Manhattan Trust Bank, taking several employees and customers hostage.
Called in to negotiate with the robbers is Detective Keith Frazier, played by Denzel Washington. Frazier has all the typical movie cop traits- a bit of a rebel, personal and professional problems (girlfriend issues and corruption charges), honest but unorthodox… He’s not the police department’s first choice to tackle a major case like this, but he’s all they have available. Still, Frazier is eager to get back on the job, and is quickly drawn into the proverbial cat and mouse game with Russell.
As for Plummer and Foster, he is the shadowy bank chairman Arthur Case, who believes that there may not be a mere bank heist. His vault holds more than just money; it also contains secrets he’d rather not be made public. That is where Madeline White (Foster) comes in- she is, for lack of a better term, a power broker. She traffics in favors and influence, and for a price she can make any dream come true or nightmare disappear.
That is the basic dynamic of these characters: Russell is coolly executing the details of his scheme, deflecting suspicion and misdirecting the authorities at every turn. Frazier is working equally hard to unravel the mysteries. All the while, White is manipulating the circumstances to cover Case’s backside. Their interaction is the heart of the film; just as the robbery is seemingly the pretext for a larger crime, the heist story is a framework that allows these great actors to play off one another.
It all makes for a fascinating movie, full of twists and turns that, unlike so many modern thrillers, actually seem to make sense within the context of the story. Granted, if one is really looking it won’t be hard to find plot holes, however no one should be examining the film so closely. The strong performances by the three leads should be enough distraction, and a great supporting cast (Plummer, and Willem Dafoe as the SWAT commander, to name a few) should seal the deal. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
