Inside Man (2006)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2006
	Director: Spike Lee (Summer of Sam)
	Actors: Denzel Washington (The Book of Eli), Clive Owen (Children of Men, Sin City), Jodie Foster (Elysium, Contact), Willem Dafoe (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Spider-Man)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 08.07.2017, in-flight entertainment 10" screen
Synopsis: A police detective (Washington), a bank robber (Owen), and a high-power broker (Plummer) enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.
Review: I know the trendy director from He Got Game, Summer of Sam or The 25th Hour, which all have in common that they take place in the neigborhoods of New York city, so much that the town is a character in itself. Not a big surprise when you know how much the director loves his city and its inhabitants, and is an advocate for it. I think I even read that one day while traveling in Europe he bought a TV-channel so that they would show a match of his baseketball team and he could watch it. The city is also very present in Inside Man, but no so well integrated to the story I found, like in those aerial shots of Wall Street that at the same time have a studio look and are too cliché. Puting New York aside, the idea behind the robbery is original and is well told: there is not the usual weak point in the gang that will make the opereation fail. All proceeds as expected and one could wonder how the movie can go on while its characters seem to have no influence on the evens occuring inside the bank. An element of answer may be that the many known actors are very pleasant to watch (although I found the character of Jodie Foster quite useless). Already ten years old, but quite a reference in the bank robbing movie sub-genre.
Rating: 6 /10