INSIDE MAN

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: foul language, thematic elements

Rated:

Imagine that you planned the perfect bank robbery. Imagine that you carried it out without a hitch, and the rest of the world had no idea what you were up to. Imagine that it was a magnificent deception. Imagine Inside Man.

Four people walk into a bank. Four people lock off the doors. Four people pull out automatic weapons and force everyone to hit the floor. These four people are headed up by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen). They don't want any trouble. They want cooperation. Do what they say, no one gets killed. Don't do what they say, people die. Someone tries to be a wise guy. He gets his face punched in. Another woman refuses to strip and don the painter's gear they want to outfit her with. They force her to. All of this comes to the attention of passing Manhattan beat cop, who puts in a call to the precinct. Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is cooling his heels while the bureau investigates his potential participation in missing drug money. More than eager to be on duty again, he is put in charge of the hostage situation inside Manhattan Bank & Trust.

The situation is brought to the attention of the bank trustee, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer). With personal property at stake, namely the occupants of a mysterious box in the vault, he has no desire to call attention to what is sealed inside. One of New York's finest people at "clearing up these kinds of messes," is smooth-talking Madeline White (Jodie Foster). She is contacted to either keep the box's contents secure or make sure it disappears. With the assistance of the mayor, and the presiding influence of the cop in charge of the operation (William Dafoe), she attempts to bargain her way inside the bank with a deal.

As the hours tick past and no demands are made, Frazier begins to question the motivation of the robbers. So far they have not really hurt anyone. They ask for food and water, provisions, and a private jet. The cops ask for more time, and it is given to them. The plot seems a little jagged at the beginning because we are seeing both real-time and flashes to interrogation rooms where the police are questioning the hostages. I didn't understand why the film was crafted this way until the second half, when you realize that it prevents the pace from slowing for an all-out slew of interrogations. It is a well-crafted thriller that will surprise you in its intricacies. Just when you think you might have it figured out, the robbers pull an unexpected twist. You're never sure what they want, how they're going to go about getting it, or who might wind up in a body bag before the end.

I really liked the actors in their respective roles. This is one of Jodie Foster's most memorable performances. She plays a cold negotiator very well. Denzel is fabulous, as always. Owen isn't given much to work with, but then he's hampered by having his face almost fully covered throughout. If it weren't for the language I would recommend it in a heartbeat, because it's good. Emotionally involving, intense, and delivers a nice twist ending. But unless you can sit there and ignore 50 f-words, you're better off waiting for the edited-for-TV version in ten years. The language doesn't even serve a purpose, it's just there, interrupting otherwise decent sentences. And everyone uses it from the Arab taken in for questioning to the mayor. There are other profanities, one abuse of Jesus' name, and two of GD. A man calls a woman a derogatory, crude term for the female anatomy. There are a few sexual references and jokes.

There is quite a bit of violence. After he refuses to turn over his cell phone, we see a bank employee taken behind a rippled glass door and badly beaten (image distorted through the glass). Another woman resists and is dragged into an office -- we don't know what, if anything, happens to her. Men are punched in the face, thrown down flights of stairs, and one is shot at point-blank range. There's no sexual content, but men and women hostages are forced to strip at gunpoint. The camera pans across the women in their underwear, trying to cover themselves up. One of the thieves is described as being very buxom. During both interrogations of the only two buxom women in custody, the cops eye her bust. Frazier is living with his girlfriend, but hasn't proposed yet.

While running a little long, the film never really loses pace and explains it all in the end, while being very complicated. There are ulterior motives to everyone's actions. Fans of the genre will appreciate its more subtle nuances, despite the language that becomes tiresome after awhile.