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Inside Man (2006)

thereviewers
Sep 13, 2015
3 min read

Inside Man tells the story of how tough cop Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) finds himself drawn into a tense hostage situation when, master criminal, Dalton Russell’s planned bank robbery goes dramatically wrong. Trying to negotiate the release of the hostages, Frazier begins to realise something is not quite right with the whole set up, and when enigmatic Madeline White (Jodie Foster) arrives on scene, he realises he’s stumbled onto something a lot bigger, than a simple robbery.

Overall Review Score

8.5 out of 10

Review

Inside Man is a 2006 crime drama that takes the usual cops and robbers cliché and redefines through a 123-minute energetic mystery that pits Denzel Washington and Willem Dafoe against Jodie Foster and Clive Owen. The cast put on a marvellous display to bring a natural, and slightly thrilling, momentum to the film; their depictions feel realistic and offer a slight insight into their underlying motives. While the films bank robbery, complete with all prerequisites i.e. smoke grenades, guns, sleek camera movements and quick talking slightly passive aggressive hostage takers, provide a distraction for the films numerous subplots. However, while these elements make the film enjoyable to watch and will add much needed vigour into the worn-out and slightly predictable crime drama genre, some of the sub plots are never resolved. This causes the film to end on an anti-climatic note, which causes the audience to feel slightly cheated and leaves them wondering if the robbers will truly get away with their seemingly perfect crime and whether Arthur Case’s (Christopher Plummer) secret will ever revealed to the public. Overall, Inside Man offers many different things to appease the widest possible audience. It offers a crime drama, a rather egotistical antagonist, a charismatic hostage negotiator, a high impact and up-tempo bank robbery turned hostage situation and secondary characters who feel fresh and multi-dimensional. However, it does struggle to balance these elements at times and causes the audience, over its 123-minute run time, to slightly forget its main plot and get distracted by constant shifting landscape as new information is revealed. Although, while this causes some problems, Inside Man is ultimately an above average film that will deliver a fast paced, entertaining story.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 10 out of 10

Comments:

Inside Man is an intriguing 2006 crime, mystery drama that really breaks the mould on the traditional cops vs robbers concept. Not only does this film manage to blend together grittier moments with comedic undertones but also does this in a way that does not distract from the built up tension throughout the film between the police negotiator, Denzel Washington, and the criminal behind the robbery, Clive Owen.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 7 out of 10

Comments:

Inside Man is a difficult film to review as it is a good film but it suffers from a series of avoidable stylistic and storyline errors. For example, while the film introduces the pretext that everything is what it seems, it rather rushes this concept toward the last 30 minutes of the film never really giving the audience any closer. Similarly, while the is focused on a hostage situation it gives very little focus to the Tactical Teams or the operation of the Mobile Command Centre instead it focuses on Keith Frazier consistently being treated like a fool or simply getting into passive aggressive arguments with people. However, with that said, the overall concept of Inside Man and the ‘perfect nature’ of the crime are extremely enjoyable to watch. The relationship between Denzel Washington and Clive Owen is tremendously fun and engaging, while Jodie Foster an Willem Dafoe provide the necessary window dressing to bring the film together. Overall, it is a film that could have easily score higher had it spent more time developing the story, brought all the plots and subplots together and ended on a clear closure point. However, it is a watchable film that will keep the audience engaged and interested for its 123-minute run time.