As my handful of readers can attest, in my last post I effectively folded up the CFS tent to begin my new life as the inheritor of $28,324,275.00 from the paralyzed philanthropic German widow in Burkina Faso, Mrs. Renate Magdalena Settnik.
As of today, however, the funds have yet to release into my Citibank account.
With those dreams temporarily on hold, I figure I may as well write some more stuff about important and/or stupid movies so you can astound guests at dinner parties with your takes on Kurt Thomas’ film debut Gymkata (1985).
The genesis of this particular post is the ubiquitous lament/confession of a sleepy-eyed person that goes something like this:
So there I was, flipping through the channels one last time before hitting the sack and goddamn if I didn’t stumble across [name movie]. Game over, man. Didn’t get to sleep until like 3 in the a.m.!”
Generally, I avoid such situations. First off, I like my sleep (I’m a wreck if I don’t get like 15 hours, which doesn’t include naps). Second, I own a lot of the movies that seem to suck people in (The Godfather 1 & 2, The Shawshank Redemption, Jaws, Die Hard, etc.), thus I can pop them into the blu-ray whenever I feel like it. Third, after 9:30p I don’t watch anything but Guy Fieri going to FlavorTown in Diners, Drive-In & Dives on the Food Network. And, finally (most obviously?), the CFS has more discipline than you.
There is, however, one film that I do have a teeny-tiny bit of trouble turning off and that is Spike Lee’s Inside Man (2006).
In terms of Spike Lee’s filmography, my guess is that film historians and the more snobby among you feel this is a minor work, an entertainment rather than the kind of social statement Mr. Lee is famous for. But I don’t care. Because, in my opinion, it’s one of the great heist films of the last 50 years.
Synopsis
The film opens in closeup on a man’s face. “My name is Dalton Russell,” he says to the camera, “he” being Clive Owen playing 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, it’s exceedingly simple…because I can. Which leaves us only with the How; and therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub.”
The opening credits unspool, the focus on a white van picking up what looks to be a team of painters from New York’s various boroughs. They soon enter a bank in Manhattan and, after neutralizing the security cameras, begin what appears to be a robbery. (“My friends and I are making a very large withdrawal from this bank,” announces the ringleader Dalton. “Anybody gets in our way, gets a bullet in the brain.”)
Bank employees and customers are rounded up and relieved of their cell phones. After a brutal demonstration of the seriousness of the robbers’ intent (some dummy doesn’t follow the no cell phone rule), the hostages are told to strip down to their underwear and put on jumpsuits and facemasks.
The robbery is called in (Dalton seems to have no interest in secrecy) and, lo, NYPD detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and his trusty partner Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) get assigned the negotiations. While Frazier and Mitchell acclimate to the scene with curmudgeonly Captain John Darius (Willem Defoe) of NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit , the robbers tour the bank. Strangely, they ignore the money vault, focusing instead on what appears to be a construction project involving banging a hole in the floor.
What’s more, we’re introduced to two other mysterious yet critical players: Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), the owner of the bank who, it seems, is terrified that a secret he’s been hiding for decades in one of the branch’s safety deposit boxes will come to light, and Madeleine White (Jodie Foster), a eminently confident fixer for the rich and powerful whom Case hires to make sure his secret remain just that.
All of which begs the following questions:
- What exactly are Dalton and his buddies up to with all that digging, not to mention their weird insistence on grey jumpsuits?
- How do they plan to escape with the dough and 50 hostages per their demand for buses and a fueled 747? (As Frazier points out to Dalton, “You’ve seen Dog Day Afternoon!”).
- Is Dalton nuts when he brags to the cops that, when the time is right, he plans to “walk right through the front door” and onto a beach somewhere to binge Pina Coladas?
- And, finally, who tailored Denzel’s suit? Cause it looks like you could put three of him in it. (Two words of advice: slim fit)
For answers you’ll have to catch the film. Not too hard considering it’s on HBO quite often.
Thoughts
An eminently re-watchable entertainment, Inside Man is one of those films that checks all the boxes for the CFS:
- Genre—I’m made no secret that I love a good heist movie. Watching all those complications somehow fit together to create a cinematic version of a Swiss watch? Sign me up.
- Acting—Everyone is terrific in the film right down to the bit players there to add some New York color. Denzel never disappoints and his interactions with both Foster and Owen are terrific. As are the scenes between Foster and that handsome old film vet, Plummer.
- Writing—There were some critics who complained the film was too confusing. Nonsense I say. The sharp screenplay, by Russell Gewirtz, is pitch perfect and resolves in a wonderful fashion. Of course, I’ve seen it like 10 times so…
- Directing—Spike truly seems to be having fun here, no doubt helped by the subject matter being relatively light compared to his other films. That said, Lee makes sure there’s some commentary on race and inequality.
- Cinematography—Director of Photography Matthew Libatique provides our eyes wonderful widescreen imagery.
Check it out.