Ahoy, squirts! Quint here quickly throwing out a review-mini for INSIDE MAN. Forgive me... I've been watching SOUTH PARK Season 7 with all of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's commentary-minis, so I've gotten into a mini-funk.
Plus I'm lazy.
So, review-mini... INSIDE MAN is really a throw-back in style, character and structure to the classic heist movies of years past, including DOG DAY AFTERNOON. It's a tight movie that has you rooting for both Clive Owen's Dalton Russell, the robber, and Denzel Washington's hostage negotiator, Det. Keith Frazier. You like them both, for different reasons (Washington is just likable and Owen is so in control... it's like watching a magician pull a trick... you want to see him do it and do it perfectly).
I find that if I'm watching a heist movie where I want the perpetrator to be caught or foiled, I don't enjoy the film as much. You want to see Robert Redford and Paul Newman pull one over on Quint in THE STING. Like I mentioned above, a good heist flick is like watching a magician pull off a great trick, but so often you don't get all the pieces of the puzzle that you need to make a successful heist flick.
The heist needs to be plausible. The rules have to be set up and never broken (ie, no twist surprise ending that feels cheap). Those pulling the heist have to be likable, but far from squeaky clean. They have to be badasses. And you need to have a good opponent, someone close to discovering the ruse, but one that won't figure it out until the trick has been pulled.
All that said... INSIDE MAN is a great heist film.
Spike Lee films newcomer Russell Gewirtz's great script with an energy and flare for visual storytelling. The acting is all top notch. Clive Owen is becoming a bona fide star and I, for one, couldn't be happier about it.
There you go. Review-mini of Spike Lee's INSIDE MAN. Good flick. Go enjoy!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
