Denzel's Inside Man Delivers

When the film opens we are instructed to listen closely by Clive Owen’s bank robbing Dalton Russell. Russell’s intensity, quietness and stillness commands the audience’s attention - and director Spike Lee along with an impressive cast lead by Denzel Washington rarely let’s the viewer go. Inside Man is an entertaining, visceral thrill ride reviving the heist genre popularized in the 1970s. Yet this film is very contemporary in tone - though fortunately not in violence.

Russell and company calmly walk into a crowded Wall Street bank and cleverly dismantle the security cameras, literally, in a flash. Their announcement of the robbery is probably the last typical action these modern day Robin Hood’s take. Russell clearly has put a lot of thought into this robbery, and at times you wonder if maybe he has indeed pulled off the perfect heist. Now come on, it is Denzel Washington’s name at the top of the marquee isn’t it - so we know there is a hitch in this ride somewhere coming.

Two time Academy Award winner, Washington is Detective Keith Frazier, a man with troubles of his own. His girlfriend is not unclear on what she wants - a wedding ring - and his bosses wonder if perhaps he has not helped himself to a little petty cash lying ($140,00+) around in the evidence room to buy it for her. So when his captain offers him the chance to get back on the streets to handle the hostage situation, Frazier leaps at it.

Lee’s films, while understood by his fans who recognize their language of frustration, has been off putting to others because of their in your face approach to the racial difficulties of America. In Inside Man Lee does not abandon his challenge to status quo in exchange for a larger budget. But while Lee’s mama clearly did not raise a fool - he still points a mirror to the audience, reminding them that just although we may play “nicer” together - America still has problems in this arena.