Inside Man

An elegant stylish crime film with an intelligent script, likable characters, several twists, and an unexpected ending. That's exactly the kind of movie I like - it keeps me in suspense throughout the duration and pleases me at the end. It has a very decent cast, where Clive Owen and Jodie Foster naturally dominate. Overall impression: 90%. Spike Lee doesn't need almost any action to create an atmosphere, as he relies on perspective and the cleverness of his heroes. (02/06/2010)

Luckily Spike Lee hasn’t drowned in commercial waters and managed to film a very pleasant and intelligent picture that he worked some moments from his previous works into. The screenplay starts off with an excellent idea, which makes it all the more surprising that in the end it is the screenplay that is the weakest aspect of this movie, because it isn’t enough for over two hours of running time. Luckily this isn’t completely obvious when you are watching, thanks to Spike, the absolutely perfect casting and a very successful balancing on a knife’s edge between thriller and comedy. Overall, very good, but for me The Negotiator remains the “king" of this type of movie. (07/04/2006)

Overcomplicated and yet unfinished. Spike Lee's storytelling style just doesn't sit well with me. After 25th Hour, he couldn't capture my attention in the first half to deliver an almost beautiful ending. This was mainly aided by the brilliant Clive Owen, but otherwise, this piece in its omniscience and supposed lightness failed in a striking way. (16/12/2006)

The perfect heist? Yeah, right! Rather, in terms of logic, a perfectly haphazard xth variation on the bank robbery. Logically leaky both in the point of the action of the robbers, however spectacular, and in the actions of the bank boss (who was he saving the compromising materials for?). The fact that Spike Lee once again stood his ground is a poor excuse. I was pleased with his subtle political allusions, although they were not nearly as strong as Norton's confession in 25th Hour, I was pleased with his sense of black humour, and although the film moves along briskly and doesn't get boring, I definitely expected more from a filmmaker with such a big name than just a wannabe spectacular and contrived story. (24/09/2006)

Denzel Washington's dashing detective, Clive Owen's charismatic thief and the most sophisticated bank heist ever portrayed on film. Inside Man is really hard to describe if you haven't come across the specific approach Spike Lee takes to all his films. But if you’re already familiar with his impressive precision, attention to detail, and his careful development of the main characters, you can imagine that two whole hours are not nearly enough for a story full of twists, turns, eavesdropping, political interests, and millions of dollars. The film simply has "balls", there is always something going on, there isn’t a single moment or shot that is superfluous or even meaningless in the sum total, and you can’t help but smile at the entire crew and cast for what a suspenseful and gripping thriller they have made, and in just one building. Even Sydney Lumet and his famous Dog Day Afternoon would applaud it. 95% (21/11/2012)