INSIDE MAN (2006) |
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Starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen,
Christopher Plummer, Willem Defoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor,
Carlos Andrés
Gómez, Kim
Director, James Ransone, Bernie Rachelle, Peter Gerety, Victor Collochio,
Cassandra Freeman, Peter Frechette and Gerry Vichi.
Screenplay by
Russell Gewirtz.
Directed by Spike Lee.
Distributed by Universal Pictures. 129 minutes. Rated
R. |
 
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Inside Man
While it is probably not in
Spike Lee's DNA to make a commercial blockbuster, you can't begrudge him the
urge to make a film that more people will see. Lee is too stubbornly
quirky to totally sell out his values, though.
Despite an all-star cast
and a clever action movie plotline, Inside Man is nothing like most
current blockbusters coming from Hollywood. If anything, it seems like
a film that would have clicked in the grittier, more experimental motion
picture landscape of the mid-1970s. It's really an update of the
classic hostage dramas of the period like Dog Day Afternoon and
The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.
The film knows and
acknowledges its predecessors. Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico and
even Kojak (a TV series whose pilot episode also features a police
stand-off with armed robbers) are all referred to by name in the script.
This blatant recognition of
its past somehow makes the film more likable, though. Most films that
are somewhat derivative would be horrified to show their sources.
Inside Man makes it a homage to this style.
And style is something that
Inside Man does not lack. It has it in spades -- more than it
has substance. Not that the heist story isn't interesting or
suspenseful. It's just that the more that we know about what is
happening, the less it makes sense. Eventually it feels more like an
exercise than a story.
It is a very well-done exercise, though.
(3/06)
Alex
Diamond
Copyright ©2006
PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: April 6, 2006. 
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Copyright ©2006
PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: April 6, 2006.
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