Reviews

Inside Man- New to DVD

As long as there have been movies, there have been heist movies. Dating all the way back to The Great Train Robbery to current films such as the Ocean’s Eleven remake or David Mamet’s Heist the heist film has always stuck to a certain formula, while attempting to be original and sometimes fun. Spike Lee’s Inside Man is certainly a cut above the rest of the group. The story and the film itself play out like great jazz riffs: cool, complex and full of twists.

The film stars Denzel Washington in another great role as Det. Keith Frazier. Frazier is an unpredictable cop who is far from a zealot of the law, but does do the right thing, even if it means bending said laws. He almost seems to half-ass his job, yet that seems to be one of the many games he plays with everyone except for his partner, Det. Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor); plainly put, Frazier loves fucking with everyone. The film begins with a genius and well-planned bank job headed up by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen). As a matter of fact Dalton opens up the film, giving you the skinny of who he is and what is about to happen. What the audience doesn’t know is that his words are very important. During the heist, Dalton and his crew (all named with variations of Steve) take several hostages and begin many games with them to constantly keep the hostages guessing what is exactly going on. When the bank chairman and C.E.O. (Christopher Plummer) finds out about his branch being under siege, he is most troubled, perhaps more than usual. He goes on to hire Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to retrieve a certain item within bank of great importance to him. Now to give you a perspective on who Madeline is, she is the proverbial bitch on wheels. Lee never really shows us why she has so much stroke in the Big Apple’s politics and why she has the mayor under her heels to do her bidding, but whenever Foster is on screen we watch and listen, or else. It is unusual for Foster to play such a manipulative and almost cruel role, but she does it to perfection.

The story jumps back and forth between the action going on outside the bank, inside the bank and Frazier and Mitchell conducting interrogations with the hostages. Now while this last part may have the audience guessing what is exactly going on, rest assured all will be revealed.

Like I said earlier this is a very cool film in the sense of the mood and tempo of the film. The ending never reaches a big crescendo, but is very satisfying. This movie almost has the feel of a con game, rather than a traditional heist picture, which is what separates it from the rest. This may not go down as one of Spike Lee’s most controversial films, but it should certainly be placed with his best work.

The DVD is only available in a single disc format and includes a making of documentary, a conversation with Washington and Lee about this being their fourth collaboration, over twenty minutes of deleted scenes that are hit and miss and a commentary track from Lee. The disc features a few languages in 5.1 surround sound and the picture is in anamorphic widescreen with a 2.35:1 ratio.

This is definitely a must own for any fans of Lee, Washington or of heist films. You can pick this up for rental or purchase at Wild and Wooly Video.
Film – 8.5
DVD – 8.0
George

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