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Back Shelf Beauties
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Inside Man With a cast that includes 4 Oscar nominees and a legendary director like Spike Lee, Inside Man promised to be something special, maybe even one of the best movies of the year, in every commercial and trailer I had seen. Thankfully, it's all that and more than you can imagine. Maybe Frankie "Malcom in the Middle" Muniz, Amanda Bynes, Uwe Boll and all of these other purveyors of movie mediocrity should buy a ticket to learn how a good movie is made, if they care. Denzel Washington stars as Detective Keith Frazier - an officer of the law living under a cloud. He has been accused of stealing money that was being held as evidence, but has a chance to redeem himself when a group of bank robbers, led by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), take over the Manhattan Trust Bank along with 30 or so hostages. Frazier is in charge of the negotiation and making sure the situation ends peacefully, but, as he analyzes the robbers' actions and speaks with Russell, he realizes this is no ordinary bank robbery. Can Dalton and his gang get what they want? Will Frazier be able to save all of the people taken hostage? How will Dalton get out of this mess? Inside Man is one of the most intelligent and harrowing films of 2006. Writer Russell Gerwitz, teamed with Lee, provides some amazing twists and turns throughout the film as the audience starts to see how many layers there are to the story. Lee expertly takes us through the main bank heist plot, but also weaves in a story about the bank's founder, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) and his desire to keep a secret hidden in the bank; Frazier's own shaky employment situation while under investigation for the missing money; the involvement of a mysterious, yet, very connected Madeline White (Jodie Foster); and the interviews conducted by Frazier and his partner, Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor), as they try to ascertain what has happened. None of it gets muddled together, and each story adds to the other to make Inside Man as good and fascinating as it is. Gerwitz also provides some fantastic dialogue, especially for Frazier as he interacts with Mitchell, Dalton, White and the head of the tactical team, Captain Darius (Willem Dafoe). Lee lets us feel the tension between all parties, and the camaraderie when it emerges. Then, in the middle of this tense drama, Lee and Gerwitz still give us some funny moments to relieve the tension, like when Dalton threatens violence if Frazier can't answer a silly trivia question (which leads to all of the police bickering amongst each other as to what is the right answer as if they were sitting around the station house near the coffee pot before the day got started), or when our volatile bank robber Dalton is a little put off that a kid being held hostage by his team is playing a Grand Theft Auto-like video game full of violence a youngster like him shouldn't be exposed to. This, teamed with characters who truly showcase the New York attitude, keeps the movie authentic and provides some comic relief to give the audience a moment to catch its breath before the real fireworks begin. Best of all, Lee and Gerwitz provide great intrigue as we try to figure out who is honest and trustworthy, who might be misleading us, and how exactly can our brilliant bank robber get out of what appears to be a no win situation. Lee keeps the audience guessing, and, better yet, makes it very clear at the end that he provided the clues all along, if we were paying attention. To his credit, he never cheats by unfairly throwing in some fact out of nowhere nor does Lee give us the answers too soon. His only mistakes in Inside Man are the use of retro 40's or 50's melodramatic orchestral music that sometimes overpowers the scene and feels out of place in a modern movie, and not wrapping up the ending a little quicker. Inside Man is a long movie (a little over 2 hours), but only feels that way because it could have been finished 10 minutes earlier. While Lee and Gerwitz lay down a fantastic framework, Washington and the cast make Inside Man come alive. Washington is electric and works his way through the movie with the swagger a man on top of his game should have. He's loose and in control at all times, and knows when to turn on the intensity at the right moments. Best of all, he knows how to keep the audience wondering about Fraizer's ethics, and lets us see the detective thinking through the case, just like we are. Did he steal that money? Washington makes sure we have that in the back of our heads, even when playing the hero. Inside Man is the smart, challenging, exciting movie many have been waiting for. 3 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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