Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Inside Man (2006)

4/23/2024

Inside Man (2006) - Lee's delicious heist thriller

♥♥♥♥♥

Text and small, slim stills at slanted angles upon a white background makes up this poster for Spike Lee's Inside Man

An elaborate bank heist takes place in New York by a mysterious team of robbers, who take the staff hostage, while a police negotiator tries to get the criminals out without any bloodshed, and the bank's founder hires a fixer to make sure his vault's secrets are not stolen.

Inside Man is written by Russell Gewirtz (Blind Justice (2005)) and directed by Georgian master filmmaker Spike Lee (Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983)), whose 20th feature it is.

It it an intelligent and very well carried out thriller and an unusual Lee 'joint': He has not participated in its writing, as he is wont to do, and it is a more 'straight' genre picture than most of his films. But Inside Man still has the Lee touch: It is rife with buddy mood, and Denzel Washington (The Hurricane (1999)) is terrific as the 'small-time New-Yorker' who saves the day.

The story is captivating, and the performances are way above the standard in most thrillers, most prominently Washington, but Jodie Foster (The Brave One (2007)) is also good as the frightening fixer, and so is Christopher Plummer (Starcrash (1978)) as the conscience-plagued bank founder. There's a keen double-meaning to the movie's title.

Related posts:

Spike Lee: The day after the day after ... the 2019 Oscars

She Hate Me (2004) or, Champion of the Lesbians

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
25th Hour (2002) or, Taking a Second Chance

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

He Got Game (1998) - Lee's basketball classic

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 186 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.13 times its cost)

[Inside Man was released 16 March (Netherlands) and runs 129 minutes. Shooting took place from June - August 2005 in New York. The film opened #1 to a 28.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 88.5 mil. $ (47.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 14.4 mil. $ (7.7 %) and France with 9.3 mil. $ (5 %). The film won an AFI award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. The film additionally made an estimated 38.6 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone. Lee returned with 4 TV and short projects prior to his theatrical return Miracle at St. Anna (2008). Washington returned in Deja Vu (2006); Clive Owen (Killer in Red (2017, short)) in Children of Men (2006); and Foster in The Brave One (2007). Inside Man is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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4/23/2024

Inside Man (2006) - Lee's delicious heist thriller

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