Inside Man

Set in New York City, Inside Man is centered on “the perfect bank robbery”. And after seeing this mind-boggling movie, it very well seems to be. Directed by Spike Lee, this thriller stars several great actors such as Denzel Washington (Keith Frazier), Clive Owen (Dalton Russell), and Jodie Foster (Madeline White) who all deliver first rate-performances. This is movie is full of intense, exciting moments and does not disappoint.
The action in this film begins almost immediately with almost no build up as the bad guys, disguised as painters, enter the lobby of the Manhattan Trust Bank in New York’s financial district. With Russell leading the group of robbers, they take down the bank’s surveillance and then proceed to take the bank customers and employees hostage. Russell’s true motives for robbing the specific bank are never entirely clear, which leaves us guessing throughout. However, it becomes more obvious as the story unfolds that the object of interest targeted by the robbers is not the money in the vault. New York City’s finest springs into action, blocking off streets, placing snipers on roofs, and calling into play the hostage negotiators. From there on, Detective and negotiator Frazier and Russell fight and play mind games with each other while the whole city is watching and the story unfolds. However, Frazier soon realizes there is nothing normal about this bank robbery.
Director Spike Lee takes a very new and different approach to the standard crime thriller. Inside Man differs from other robbery movies because it does not stick with the normal robbery movie formula. It depends on intense moments of dialogue between its characters rather than its action sequences. This movie is full of action and twists, but also has mind boggling plot that keeps the audience thinking till the end.