Film review - Inside Man (15) (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Film review - Inside Man (15)

2:20pm Thursday 23rd March 2006

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WITH echoes of David Mamet, The Usual Suspects, Dog Day Afternoon and, incongruously, the 1990 Bill Murray comedy Quick Change, it goes without saying no one is what they seem in Spike Lee's slickly executed heist thriller.

Characters conceal ulterior motives and their words are carefully chosen, laden with hidden meaning.

The story is narrated by the bank robber himself, played with an icy cool by Clive Owen.

Frustratingly, as Owen introduces himself and discusses his plan to rob a bank, Lee unnecessarily gives away one of the major plot twists in these opening frames, which diminishes the deviousness of the script by first-time writer Russell Gewirtz.

Owen's nemesis is hostage negotiator Denzel Washington, a man who enjoys living on the edge.

Alongside partner Chiwetel Ejiofor his resourcefulness and cunning are tested to the limit during the tense stand off between police and the robber.

Details of the heist are sketchy: according to the CCTV footage, four people dressed in decorator's suits and masks marched into the Manhattan Trust bank in full daylight and took the staff and customers hostage. In a series of tense telephone conversations, Owen and Washington attempt to size each other up, engaging in a frenetic game of cat and mouse with the lives of the hostages as the ultimate prize.

The encounter is poised on a knife-edge; one wrong decision could lead to tragedy.

The siege takes an unexpected twist when enigmatic Manhattan power broker Jodie Foster, secretly in the employ of Christopher Plummer, the chairman of the bank's board of directors, interrupts negotiations. She is determined to follow her own agenda, regardless of the repercussions for the hostages, throwing the already precarious situation into deeper turmoil.

Washington and Owen clearly relish their verbal jousting and both actors have great fun trying to gain the upper hand.

Add the mesmerising Foster, shamelessly underused but looking incredible, into the mix and you have the ingredients for an incendiary edge-of-seat thriller.

Lee, better known for feisty independent films than this more commercial offering, directs with an assured hand, including a couple of well-paced action sequences. It is a fast-moving, finely honed take on an oft-told story.

Inside Man (15): thriller, directed by Spike Lee. Running time: 129 minutes.

Gazette rating: ***

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