Day 3 - Inside Man

I remember when the movie was released, I felt indifferent to it. It looked like, at best, an average heist flick. I started to feel slight intrigue when I started to hear the positive reviews, but my interest was still dysmal.

I will say this now, the movie does have a major twist ending. Last week, in my review of The Usual Suspects, I made note of how I don't even like to know if a movie has a twist, because I then spend the rest of the movie looking for clues. And in a movie like The Usual Suspects, they were all there.

However, don't bother looking in The Inside Man. The film has as much of a twist ending as a pretzel; It doesn't save it's twist for the end, rather turning throughout, so you can never quite gain the equilibrium to get inside the characters' heads. All horrific metaphors aside, the story revolves around a New York City bank heist by a clever group of criminals, who are always two steps ahead of the police, particularly Denzel Washington's slick NYPD negotiator, who just can't quite catch up with what the thieves plans are.

Not only that, but the movie is directed so that the audience hasn't a clue either. As I spent the first half trying to look into motives and possibilities, by the midpoint of the film I had given up. There was no use, because Spike Lee directed the film to keep the audience absolutely stumped until, quite literally, the final seconds of the film.

Which brings me to another point: This film would not end. I don't mean that it dragged on, quite the contrary. The movie breezed by, taking me on a wild mind-bender, every second of which I enjoyed. No, rather the aftermath of the robbery led to so many scenes that, in any other film, could have directly proceeded the end credits, much to my disappointment. However, after each scene, it faded into another, drawing me further toward the conclusion.

However, I cannot stress this point enough: You will not forsee the ending. Where other famous twists (such as the end of The Usual Suspects, for instance) not only drop clues and hints to the conclusion throughout the film, but also have a long, dramatic buildup to the big reveal, the end of The Inside Man comes at you like a brick from behind. I was quite honestly left staring wordless and gaping at my screen for a moment, letting the pieces fall into place. The more I mulled it over in my mind, the more the ending started to resonate with me.

However, how did the rest of the film work? As you may have gathered, it did indeed work, and quite well. The film was most enthralling for the first three-quarters, during the standoff in the bank. Once the robbery ends, the rest of the film is left answering questions, and further building the atmosphere that the previous scenes had brought forth.

One of the few disappointments I had was Jodie Foster, only because her character acted more as a red herring. Not that she was ever a suspect of any wrongdoing, because we know from the moment we meet her what her intentions are. However, it is more that her character wasn't developed enough. It seems to me that her character could have been removed from the film entirely, and it would have effected the overall picture very little.

However, if you haven't been able to gather by now, I thoroughly enjoyed The Inside Man. It's a film that knows just where the audience's thoughts are, and makes sure to keep it's intentions hidden. A definite recommendation.