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Inside Man is a hostage thriller directed by Spike Lee. This is better than your average hostage plot.

The movie begins with a team of “industrial painters” robbing the main branch of the Manhattan Trust Bank. By the end of the movie, you find out why the robbers chose this particular disguise.

British actor Clive Owen gives a good performance as Dalton Russell, the leader of the robbers. Dalton is an enigma, and his agenda in the robbery is not clear-cut. The robbers take hostages, and from this point on the movie makes some clever twists and turns.

Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is in charge of defusing the hostage situation. Once he arrives on the scene, he receives resistance from Captain John Darius (Willem Dafoe), who does not respect his role as a hostage-negotiator.

Madeliene White (Jodie Foster) enters the movie as an ambitious power broker. Madeliene accepts a special assignment from the president of the Manhattan Trust Bank (Christopher Plummer). You begin to wonder if the bank’s president has a hidden agenda.

Detective Frazier’s skills are put to the test when he negotiates with the hostage-takers. It soon becomes clear to him that many things are not what they first seemed. Police treat hostages as suspects. Police treat suspects as hostages. Confused? Don’t worry, everything becomes clear by the end of the movie.

Inside Man has a nice touch of humour, and the movie’s music is fun. A well-directed movie by Spike Lee. The cast is strong and good performances all round, especially by Denzel Washington and Clive Owen.

I would watch this movie again, just so I can pay more attention to the minor details, which were relevant to piecing together the puzzle.

This movie is definitely worth seeing.

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