Inside Man Review
Posted by Dave Schilling on 03.24.2006
Spike Lee goes mainstream in this unconventional caper film
CAST: Denzel Washington (Detective Keith Frazier), Clive Owen (Dalton Russell), Jodie Foster (Madeline White), Willem Dafoe (Captain Darius), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Detective Bill Mitchell)
SCR: Russell Gewirtz
DIR: Spike Lee
STUDIO: Universal Pictures
MPAA: R for language and some violent images
RUNNING TIME: 129 minutes
OFFICIAL SITE: http://theinsideman.net/
I am troubled by this film. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think most of it has to do with the fact that Spike Lee directed the movie. Inside Man troubles me because it is both a step in the right direction for an aimless, museless auteur and an elimination of most of the truly provocative elements of his ouveure.
Lee, in the last decade, has made some truly awful films. From Girl 6 to the abominable She Hate Me, Spike has been wallowing in the sort of self-indulgent, over-thought tedium that has recently affected other auteurs like Woody Allen. Of course, Spike Lee also wrote and directed the hugely underrated (despite its cop-out 3rd act) Bamboozled and the Edward Norton starrer, The 25th Hour. It is no surprise that a director in a funk would turn to a studio project to regain his footing. Inside Man's familiar heist plot revolves around Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), a driven bank robber with an unshakable, moralistic goal.
The film opens with Owen delivering the monologue familiar to anyone who has seen the trailer. It is an arresting moment that is followed by a jazzy opening montage. Little is revealed about Russell, but an overabundance of backstory for this shadowy character would weigh down an already meaty narrative.
Denzel Washington plays a morally suspect, career-minded opportunist New York City detective. He's been given a rare opportunity to run a hostage negotiation solo. Russell's bank robbery becomes a test for him as he strives to make promotion and avoid suspicion of stealing money from a crime scene. It's not a stretch for this highly decorated actor. We've seen Denzel play this part in more than one iteration. It is telling that a friend of mine who attended the screening with me asked if Washington had played this character in another film.
The fun here is not in watching a masterful piece of immersive method acting. Instead, the pleasure we derive from his performance is the same pleasure that is inherent in so many schlocky, repetitive films from cinema icons like John Wayne, Cary Grant, or Jimmy Stewart. The fun is in that repetition. The audience knows what to expect and it's a joy just to see a superbly talented actor do what he or she excels at.
In the case of Washington, it is conveying a self-assured, cocky, self-righteous idealism that in the hands of any other actor would be off-putting. Keith Frazier thinks he has all the answers and can out-think Clive Owen's calm, meticulous bank robber. When it becomes clear he is out of his league, the film takes a sharp turn that is not entirely unexpected, but does send the film in more compelling territory.
This is a film made compelling by the performances of its all-star cast. The players surrounding Washington are more than capable of holding their own in his orbit. Only a director with Spike Lee's critical reputation could even consider bringing heavyweights the likes of Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer (who seems to be getting more and more work the older he gets) and Jodie Foster into a fairly simple heist film for supporting roles. The same goes for Willem Dafoe, who has an inconsequential, throwaway role that anyone could have played. The fact that Defoe is there just makes the film's universe that much richer.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is an excellent actor, but his role is another that could have been played by any actor. He's Det. Frazier's cheerleader, nothing more, nothing less. He's the thriller equivalent of the role Janeane Garafalo played in so many romantic comedies in the ‘90s. He's the lead's buddy. Ejiofor was so good in Serenity and Dirty Pretty Things, and yet he has nothing to work with in this role. At best, we can hope this leads to bigger parts. Kudos to Spike for casting him anyway.
Jodie Foster is especially icy in the role of Madeline White, an upper class real estate agent who appears to dabble in far seedier affairs than apartment rentals in Greenwich Village. It is rare to see her play a character that is so immediately unsympathetic. Whereas Washington's role is decidedly rote, Foster is playing against type for once since returning to acting.
Inside Man is a lean thriller and an effective morality play, but Lee trips on his own ingenuity briefly, introducing a flash-forward device at the end of the 1st act of the film. The narrative is well underway, the film is in a groove of sorts. Then, we are presented with a narrative conceit in the middle of the picture. It is unsettling when first developed, but once the initial "WTF?" questions are out of the way, it does serve to expedite the process of necessary exposition. It certainly beats a linear, unimaginative plot. I just wish Lee and his editor, Barry Alexander Brown, had found a way to establish the device sooner. Also, things would be less perplexing if the same lighting used for the flash-forwards wasn't used for a "what-if" sequence during a planning session by the hostage team. As it stands, it is a minor hiccup in a fairly tight picture.
Spike also finds a way to sneak in a bit of social commentary in some fairly ingenious ways. Particularly clever is his take on Grand Theft Auto style video games, which got the biggest laugh out of me during the running time. Sadly, this sort of material is few and far between. That is what is most distressing about Inside Man. It's Lee's most accomplished film in some time, and yet it lacks so much of what makes a "Spike Lee Joint." This trade-off is par for the course when independent-minded filmmakers take on major studio projects, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing.
The 411: Spike Lee’s Inside Man takes the director careening toward the mainstream with a heist picture with a smattering of brains. Denzel Washington takes a role that is right in his wheelhouse and runs with it. It’s not much to work with, but Denzel is never boring. The same is true of the film. It unspools deftly and keeps the audience one step behind the machinations of its steely-eyed antagonist. This is an above-average Hollywood thriller well worth your time.
