Inside Man (2006)
Directed by Spike Lee
When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.
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22 films that influenced Inside Man
What critics say influenced Inside Man
This entertaining trick requires the moral sophistication evident in his moody and underrated 25th Hour and is reminiscent of two classic New York crime films from the 1970s -- Dog Day Afternoon, referred to by Frazier, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
Spike Lee's riveting bank heist/hostage film breaks all the rules and comes across as a reworking of a very tired genre that started with Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon.
The script, written by first-time screenwriter Russell Gewirtz, is a clever little potboiler that combines the keep-you-guessing psychological element of Alfred Hitchcock with the socio-political tension of Sidney Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon” (one of Lee’s favorite films, and mentioned by Washington in this film).
Multiple references are made throughout to Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975).
It also pays tribute to the Sidney Lumet classics Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico.
As much a mystery as it is a suspense-thriller, this bank-heist film combines elements from both "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Usual Suspects."
It also pays tribute to the Sidney Lumet classics Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico.
Inside Man drops that film's title ( Serpico 's, too), decking Frazier out in a cheap white suit and raffish hat that segue brilliantly into the closing shot of a black man in a wife-beater, standing in front of a vanity while in the foreground, a luscious lady in recline dangles that hat off some manicured, impatient toes.
It turns out that this isn't a heist film after all, but a mash-up between Cotton Comes to Harlem, the laid-back cop classic that launched the blaxploitation genre in 1970, and an unmade sequel to The Sound of Music, where Christopher Plummer's Captain Von Trapp returns to the motherland and goes into business with the Nazis.
Spike Lee's The Inside Man puts a fresh spin on the heist/hostage thriller, while retaining enough of the cynical New York City attitude that made Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) so memorable.
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In fact, I bet he watched Dog Day Afternoon , Marathon Man and a Ocean's Eleven in one evening and said, “Hey, I could make my own bank robbery-diamond/Nazi-heist movie.”
In fact, I bet he watched Dog Day Afternoon , Marathon Man and a Ocean's Eleven in one evening and said, “Hey, I could make my own bank robbery-diamond/Nazi-heist movie.”
One could argue that a cast with this much wattage hasn't been assembled since Twilight (Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, Reese Witherspoon).
It's as entertaining a heist movie as Dog Day Afternoon (1975) or Quick Change (1990).
His plan for getting in and out of the bank is pretty much right outta Quick Change but with less Bill Murray-style wiseacreing (Washington’s detective prefers to invoke Dog Day Afternoon), and his real reason for attacking the bank of course has nothing to do with money... or not much, anyway, cuz this is a postmodern heist film that knows we’ve all seen every heist film ever made and need more than a merely greedy bad guy to keep our interest.
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This entertaining trick requires the moral sophistication evident in his moody and underrated 25th Hour and is reminiscent of two classic New York crime films from the 1970s -- Dog Day Afternoon, referred to by Frazier, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
Make no mistake, Lee is still in his typically outspoken form, he's still using film in the manner I described when reviewing 25th Hour -- "like a wild-eyed protestor dousing himself with gasoline and striking a match."
I like all the main players in this one and thoroughly enjoyed the last Spike Lee film that I saw, 25th Hour.
This is also a welcome return to form for director Spike Lee, who's been in a slump for a few years, whose last watchable film was, arguably, "25th Hour" in 2002.
Director Spike Lee ("25th Hour," "She Hate Me") seems to be swinging between his own less and less compelling projects and studio fare such as this, and he just about hits this one out of the park.
It’s a refreshing movie that gets your adrenaline racing and continues the potential Spike Lee reignited with 25th Hour four years ago.
As much a mystery as it is a suspense-thriller, this bank-heist film combines elements from both "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Usual Suspects."