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Inside Man [HD DVD] 
Actors : Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe
Director : Spike Lee
Studio : Universal Studios
by Universal Studios
Release Date : 2007-10-23
Publisher : Universal Studios
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0025193002129
UPC : 025193002129
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 221 reviews)
List Price : $19.98
Our Price : $3.97
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Description |
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Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington, Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen and Academy Award® winner Jodie Foster star in this intense and explosive crime thriller. The perfect bank robbery quickly spirals into an unstable and deadly game of cat-and-mouse between a criminal mastermind (Owen), a determined detective (Washington), and a power broker with a hidden agenda (Foster). As the minutes tick by and the situation becomes increasingly tense, one wrong move could mean disaster for any one of them. From acclaimed director Spike Lee comes the edge-of-your-seat, action-packed thriller The Wall Street Journal calls "a heist film that's right on the money." |
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Americancivilwar.com |
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Spike Lee scored his biggest hit to date with Inside Man, an unconventional thriller with fascinating details in the margins of its convoluted plot. The screenplay (by first-timer Russell Gerwitz) could've used a few more rewrites; it moves at a brisk pace but in hindsight a lot of it doesn't make sense. That makes Inside Man more fun to watch than to think about afterwards (when you discover plot holes big enough to drive a truck through), but it's curiously involving, especially as NYPD Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) struggles to outsmart a high-stakes bank robber (Clive Owen) who, along with a well-trained crew of accomplices, has seized control of a Wall Street bank, turning what initially looks like a hostage crisis into a personal crusade to expose some mysterious evil secrets. As you might expect from the director of Do the Right Thing, Lee seizes several satisfying opportunities to examine post-9/11 issues of racial prejudice and domestic terrorism, and the mysterious "problem solver" Madeline White (Jodie Foster), as eerily sinister as she is vaguely defined, is worthy of her own movie. With the benefit of his most stellar cast to date (including Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor), Lee seems more interested in character details than well-crafted suspense, but that doesn't stop Inside Man from being engrossing, subtly amusing, and quirky enough to qualify as a welcomed break from the formulaic thrillers that are Hollywood's bread and butter. --Jeff Shannon |
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Slick Production |
Spike Lee has directed a well crafted heist flick. Inside Man never sags and its all-star cast keeps the viewer glued to the storyline. Like all hostage negotiator films, Inside Man is a test of wits, but in this case the audience finds itself rooting for the negotiator (Danzel Washington) and the criminal (Clive Owen).
Heist films usually flip the audience sympathies to the criminal side and hostage negotiator stories always pull for the brainy police specialist, so this dual audience loyalty is a feat of storytelling. It is accomplished by establishing an antagonist not directly connected to the two main characters. The strength and venomousness of the antagonists makes or breaks action pictures. (You can't be heroic fighting against a wimpy bad guy.) Jodie Foster is so believable as a villain that she successfully deflects the audience wrath away from the two main contestants.
This is a stylish film, tightly edited with a great cast.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper |
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Entertaining heist flick with some great back story |
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Very entertaining film with some spot on acting. Denzel is always strong, and thoroughly enjoyed Jodie Foster's character. Clive Owen was a big surprise for me as I normally am not a huge fan, but thought he was great to watch. The film plays a bit with some rashomonesque story telling and flashes, and it's intriguing to see the plot play out. A little bit long towards the end, but usually Spike Lee films are. The ending was a bit too pat for my tastes as well, but very much enjoyed it overall. Watched via Americancivilwar on-demand as well, which worked pretty well for me. |
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Great Movie |
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Denzel is great in this movie, as he is in them all. The plot is a little far fetched, but worth the watch. |
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Denzel... Same charactor as always. Nothing new. |
As far as Spike lee films go, it's one of his better ones, and... least racial. As far as Denzel Washington films go, it's about the same as any other.
I got tired of Denzel after Crimson Tide. It seems he always has to have some racial element in his films. Here we get white cops who can't help themselves but throw racial terms around, a Nazi Jewish "white" guy, and a condescending "white" Jodie Foster. Denzel, of course, is the untouchable, unwavering, incorruptible, follow-the-law, smarter-then-the-people-around-him, black man, told to bend the rules, or accused of bending the rules by his white bosses, and chiefs.... even the mayor. It's the role he's been in so many times before, that Training Day was actually a nice change.
The story is simple, and interesting enough to watch all the way through, but there are no real surprises, and no exciting parts. Everything just moves along at the same pace through the film. It's more the interaction between the good actors that keeps this film flowing. Watch Ocean's 11, or the Italian Job if you want to watch something actually worth watching.
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DENZEL & SPIKE HIT ONE OUTTA THE PARK AGAIN! |
As expected, Denzel Washington is in excellent form. I cannot even imagine him being any better, considering the body of work he has amassed during his career. Washington was eerily on point in "Malcolm X", smoothly sensual in "Mo Better Blues", and so intense in "Training Day" that he made me want to marry a thug!
In this flick, he exhibits everything that makes Denzel a master at his craft. His character is arrogant, thuggish, and intuitive. While I'm not a fan of director Spike Lee's choice of projects over the years, I find his crisp cinematography, inventive camera angles, intelligent editing, and moving jazzy soundtracks very impressive and a dominant thread in all of his films. The growth in these areas are evident here, exhibiting an inter-dependent and mutually beneficial relationship in this, Washington and Lee's fourth film together.
As for the other characters, Jodie Foster's talents are wasted - she just coasted through the film, with overtones of Clarice in "Silence of the Lambs". It seems as if she was included so that the movie trailer announcer could say "Academy Award Winner" twice! As for Clive Owen, this is the best that I have ever seen him, as charismatic and sympathetic as Hannibal Lechter. Chiwetel Ejiofor holds his own against the dominant Washington, giving the star the requisite amount of support and respect. The only person that I found totally out of place was that actress was who played Denzel's girlfriend. It took a lot more time than I usually allot to researching my reviews to find out who she was. I think her name is Cassandra Freeman. She had one film role before this and IT SHOWS! Her whole role could have been portrayed just as easily over the phone. In addition to Freeman's "school play" acting skills, her part was non-essential to the plot and far too young for the maturing Washington. She is a full THIRTY YEARS YOUNGER than Washington! What the ....?! For some reason, Hollywood seems to thrive on the older-man-way-too-much-younger-woman theme, instead of giving these female roles to "les femmes d'un certain âge". Look at whose dominating the box office and award shows: Helen Mirren ("The Queen"), Meryl Streep ("The Devil Wears Prada"), and Judi Dench ("Notes on a Scandal"), etc. I can see the director not wasting such a vapid role on a top actress but, either beef up the role to make it worthy of a Angela Bassett, or have the lines called in, "Charlie's Angels"-style. |
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