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Inside Man

Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster

Directed by: Spike Lee

RS: 3.5of 4 Stars

2006

Just when audiences had stopped giving a damn about the films of Spike Lee – too bad, because in the toxic mix of She Hate Me and Bamboozled, 25th Hour was exceptional – along came Inside Man to restore Lee’s box-office rep. With a sizable worldwide gross of $145 million, Inside Man walks and talks like a bank-robbery-caper flick. And this spiffy DVD transfer – a big shout-out to the audio-tech-heads for keeping the soundtrack as punchy as the plot – helps milk the suspense for all it’s worth.

Denzel Washington is cool personified as Keith Frazier, an NYPD hostage negotiator. His problem? Master thief Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) and his cronies have invaded a Wall Street bank and are threatening to kill fifty hostages unless the cops meet their demands. So far, so familiar. Then Lee lets fly with his peppery social conscience. The captives in the bank and the cops and media outside become a microcosm of racial, sexual and class resentments. Flash-forwards splinter the narrative. We see interviews with hostages after they get released. Russell’s demands involve a secret deposit box, Nazis, diamonds and a knockout Jodie Foster, royally bitching it up as Madeline White, a terror in heels and a power suit who runs errands for the impossibly rich.

OK, Lee’s DVD commentary track could have been more fired up, and the “making of” feature never rises above standard. The best extra involves Lee and Washington discussing the four films they’ve made together. They both know they’re not reaching as high as Malcolm X or digging as deep as He Got Game. Inside Man is more like a throwback to the potent crime dramas of the 1970s that Sidney Lumet directed (Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico). But in an era of flashy techno-crap, it’s a kick to watch a stripped-down suspense machine constructed by pros.