While more conventional than Lee's past work, "Inside Man" doesn't follow the conventions of the heist film.
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Known mostly for films with a message, Spike Lee delivers his most mainstream film yet, "Inside Man." While more conventional than Lee's past work, "Inside Man" doesn't follow the conventions of the heist film. It actually plays upon them and gives the audience some unexpected ideas and twists as the plot thickens. It doesn't quite stomp all over the genre as "Scream" did with the slasher film, but "Inside Man" makes good use of what's come in the past.
Clive Owen stars as Dalton Russell and he starts the film off by addressing the camera. He announces who he is and what he's about to do. What he's about to do is commit a spectacular robbery, not just for the money, but simply because he can. Russell and his crew enter the Manhattan Trust, disguised as painters, and deftly assume control of the building. He even dresses the hostages in matching jumpsuits and masks to keep the police from telling who's who.
Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is called to the scene, along with his partner, Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Frazier goes through the motions of dealing with the robbers, let them sweat it out, listen to their demands, play along, stall for time. He's got everything under control. What Frazier doesn't count on is that Russell knows every move in the playbook It's refreshing to see an antagonist (I'd hesitate to call him a villain) outthink and outwit the hero so frequently. It's only too late that Frazier realizes he's been had.
To complicate matters, the bank president, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), has hidden something in a safety deposit box, the discovery of which could ruin his reputation. Case hires the abrasive Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to get it out before anyone else finds it. She's an assertive power broker, who also believes she has everything under control. But, like Russell, Frazier has a few tricks up his sleeve to deal with her.
Interspersed between the main action are flash forwards to Frazier and Mitchell interrogating the various bank employees and customers trying to figure out who was in on it. Little details are dropped to clue in the audience.
There are various allusions to "Dog Day Afternoon" as a reference point to the hostage situation. The robbers always demand a bus and plane, but when have they ever successfully gotten onto the plane and escaped? More subtly, two of the supporting actors from Sidney Lumet's classic reappear for Spike Lee. Marcia Jean Kurtz plays a hostage in both films, while pizza delivery man, Lionel Pina, pops up again as a cop handing pizzas off to Russell's gang.
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