Inside Man

A perfect way to fool the viewer, after all, it's not about the robbery. Spike Lee excels in his typical side aspects: political incorrectness and lots of smaller or larger race references in all possible forms, so no one should be surprised that the robbery, so tempting and full of ideas at first glance, is ultimately incredibly simple. This thematic mix had to have some structure. The cast is excellent – especially Denzel Washington and Christopher Plummer. In essence, there’s nothing breathtaking, but the dialogues are so fierce and current that you will gladly watch it again. This is how a multi-thematic film without a proper theme is made. (07/22/2007)

Luckily Spike Lee hasn’t drowned in commercial waters and managed to film a very pleasant and intelligent picture that he worked some moments from his previous works into. The screenplay starts off with an excellent idea, which makes it all the more surprising that in the end it is the screenplay that is the weakest aspect of this movie, because it isn’t enough for over two hours of running time. Luckily this isn’t completely obvious when you are watching, thanks to Spike, the absolutely perfect casting and a very successful balancing on a knife’s edge between thriller and comedy. Overall, very good, but for me The Negotiator remains the “king" of this type of movie. (04/07/2006)

An elegant stylish crime film with an intelligent script, likable characters, several twists, and an unexpected ending. That's exactly the kind of movie I like - it keeps me in suspense throughout the duration and pleases me at the end. It has a very decent cast, where Clive Owen and Jodie Foster naturally dominate. Overall impression: 90%. Spike Lee doesn't need almost any action to create an atmosphere, as he relies on perspective and the cleverness of his heroes. (06/02/2010)

The perfect heist? Yeah, right! Rather, in terms of logic, a perfectly haphazard xth variation on the bank robbery. Logically leaky both in the point of the action of the robbers, however spectacular, and in the actions of the bank boss (who was he saving the compromising materials for?). The fact that Spike Lee once again stood his ground is a poor excuse. I was pleased with his subtle political allusions, although they were not nearly as strong as Norton's confession in 25th Hour, I was pleased with his sense of black humour, and although the film moves along briskly and doesn't get boring, I definitely expected more from a filmmaker with such a big name than just a wannabe spectacular and contrived story. (09/24/2006)

A very pleasant surprise. At the beginning Inside Man seems like a simple bank robbery movie, but it would have to be made by someone else and not Spike Lee for this to be true. Whatever you think might happen you will be wrong and that’s the magic of the whole movie which is filled with great acting performances. Clive Owen is cool even though his face is hidden behind a mask throughout the movie and I just dig his cool, languid walk. Denzel Washington is a pleasantly down to earth policeman and Willem Dafoe doesn’t play a baddy for a change. Simply a movie full of surprises. Pleasant surprises. (09/29/2006)