Inside Man (2006)

A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writer:

Russell Gewirtz

Stars:

Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster

6 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denzel Washington	...	Detective Keith Frazier
Clive Owen	...	Dalton Russell
Jodie Foster	...	Madeleine White
Christopher Plummer	...	Arthur Case
Willem Dafoe	...	Captain John Darius
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Detective Bill Mitchell
Carlos Andrés Gómez	...	Steve
Kim Director	...	Stevie
James Ransone	...	Steve-O
Bernie Rachelle	...	Chaim (as Bernard Rachelle)
Peter Gerety	...	Captain Coughlin
Victor Colicchio	...	Sergeant Collins
Cassandra Freeman	...	Sylvia
Peter Frechette	...	Peter Hammond
Gerry Vichi	...	Herman Gluck

Storyline

Composed and meticulous, the soft-spoken and ingenious bank robber, Dalton Russell, has orchestrated the perfect heist--shortly, the Manhattan bank at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway along with dozens of hostages will be his to command. Try as he might, the rough hostage negotiator, Keith Frazier, is always one step behind the criminal mastermind--and what is more disheartening--the institution's silver-haired founder, Arthur Case, recruits the intelligent problem-fixer, Madeline White, to retrieve something of paramount importance. However, the thieves seem to procrastinate intentionally, when they should be rushing into action. Will Arthur and Madeline get what they want this time?

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Plot Keywords:

bank | hostage | robber | negotiation | detective | 

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Taglines:

It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you can't judge a crime by its cover.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violent images

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook UIP [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Albanian Spanish

Release Date:

24 March 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Inside Man

Filming Locations:

Exchange Place, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$28,954,945, 26 March 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$88,513,495

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$184,376,254

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene in which the boy shows Dalton the video game he is playing on his PSP was not in the original script. Director Spike Lee added it to "make a comment on gangster rap's infatuation with violence." The game is not real, but was created by an animation house. Lee asked them to come up with animation for "the most violent game ever".

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Goofs

When the 'hostage' is dragged kicking and screaming by his ankles through the rooms of the bank, he pulls a pile of books over that are stacked next to the doorway. Later in the film when the police storm the building, the books are neatly stacked back at the side of the door. However, it is entirely possible that either one of the robbers or hostages stacked the books back up during the course of the film.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dalton Russell: My name is Dalton Russell. Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself. I've told you my name: that's the Who. The Where could most readily be described as a prison cell. But there's a vast difference between being stuck in a tiny cell and being in prison. The What is easy: recently I planned and set in motion events to execute the perfect bank robbery. That's also the When. As for the Why: beyond the obvious financial motivation...

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Crazy Credits

All leading and supporting actors as well as some of the minor characters are credited with a picture of each at the beginning of the end credits.

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Connections

References Hold-Up (1985)

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Soundtracks

Chaiyya Chaiyya - Bollywood Joint
Written by A.R. Rahman, Gulzar, Panjabi MC
Performed by Sukhwinder Singh, Sapna Awasthi featuring Panjabi MC
Courtesy of Venus Records and Tapes Pvt. Ltd, India Talkies Pvt. Ltd & A.R. Rahman
Orchestral Arrangement by Terence Blanchard
Produced and Scratched by DJ Premier

User Reviews

A good bank robbery film.

Inside Man tells the story of a man named Dalton Russel, who leads a daring bank robbery that turns into a hostage situation. Now he's dealing with disgraced hostage negotiator Keith Frazier, who is attempting to get to the bottom of things. When the shady CEO of the bank and a woman he's hired to help him protect certain interests arrive, he begins to discover that there's more to this bank robbery than it would seem. This is the only Spike Lee movie I've ever seen, but trust me, I'll see more, since this was a very intriguing film.

What I liked about Inside Man was the style it was made. It is choppy, but not so choppy that it's annoying (cough, Domino, cough, Man on Fire), so you get a sense of tension, and it seems very high paced. The plot is good, and very intriguing. There are some things you have to figure out throughout the film, which makes it more interesting. My only problem was that after the bank robbery was over, the film continued for another half hour, and it started to drag a bit. The dialogue in the movie is very cool. There's some humorous and some awesome lines that come out of the character's mouths.

The acting is very good. Denzel Washington is good as always as Det. Keith Frazier. Clive Owen gives a solid performance as Dalton Russell. I liked Willem Dafoe and Christopher Plummer. Jodie Foster wasn't as good as she usually is, but she's not in the movie a whole lot.

Overall, the movie lags toward the end, but it's intriguing and has an awesome plot.

7/10