Bottom Of The Barrel

Inside Man: A Movie Review

Inside Man is a film, based on Russell Gewirtz's novel of the same name, which follows the power struggled between a criminal mastermind (Owen), a determined detective (Washington), and a power broker with a hidden agenda (Foster).

The movie has all the right players [Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington, Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen and Academy Award® winner Jodie Foster - not to mention Tony®-nominated Christopher Plummer and Academy Award® nominee Willem Dafoe, Emmy®- and Oscar®-nominated director Spike Lee and Academy Award®-winning producer Brian Grazer] playing all the right parts but something is missing, and I am not referring to the items from the bank.

The acting was fine [I especially liked Clive Owen being a real foul mouthed thief and Jodie Foster as a somewhat sexy, take-no-shit person with "certain skills"] and the cinematography was pretty good [with some high and wide shots that make the movie seem larger than just the inside of a bank while other scenes were shot very close up to create the claustrophobic feel and added intensity] but the overall film was missing that real twist at the end to really drive home the whole story.

Sure "how" the bank was robbed was clever but the "why" is still partially a mystery . Plus a few of the storylines [or sub plots] are never revealed which makes the viewer wonder why they were present in the first place - just as a red herring or did they simply rush the film and cut out parts that would complete the story? I guess that's a mystery that will never be solved.

posted by TheWino @ 9:36 AM