Movies - Inside Man

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	Movies - Inside Man

Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster, and directed by Spike Lee. The film's screenplay is based on a story by Scott Corwon, written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Grazer. It was released in North America and several European markets on March 23rd and 24th.

Synopsis

Inside Man is the story of detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) who matches wits with a clever bank robber Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) in a tense hostage drama. As the dangerous cat-and-mouse game unfolds, a wild card emerges: a power broker Madaline White (Jodie Foster) with a hidden agenda injects more instability into an already volatile situation.

This film touches on contemporary issues such as the treatment of Middle Easterners after 9/11 and also contains dollops of New York humor and pride.

The bank robbers, led by Dalton Russell, enter the bank disguised as painters. They use infared waves to knock out security cameras prior to taking out firearms. They hold hostages and remove their keys and cell phones. Although they make numerous death threats to hostages, they seem reluctant to actually kill hostages who refuse to cooperate, resorting to beatings instead. The hostages are forced to wear the same clothes as the robbers to make it difficult for the police to distinguish them in case of a possible raid.

When they request food for the hostages, the police bug the pizza boxes. However, Russell anticipates this and plays a speech by former Albanian President Enver Hoxha for them via his iPod, sending them on a wild goose chase. It is then apparent that this robbery was extremely well planned. The robbers then demand an airplane by a certain time, which Arthur Case, the founder of the bank, seems eager to let them have. However, the police do not wish to comply with Russell's wishes.

Madaline White is then commissioned by Case to assure that certain interests of his are protected in the bank robbery. He has a specific safety deposit box whose contents he wanted to remain a secret or, if that was not possible, non-existent. White uses her connections with the mayor to gain permission to enter the scene. When she calls Russell, and mentions the special interests that Case wants her to protect, Russell surprisingly agrees to talk to her. He had refused to make extended contact with anyone prior to this offer.

White enters the bank and talks to Russell, where he reveals Case's secret. He shows her the document that the case contained, which showed that Arthur Case, the chairman of the board of directors and founder of the bank, had worked with the Nazis during World War II to obtain wealth and power. When White requests to access the safety deposit box that Case mentioned, he demonstrated that he had already opened the case and showed her the contents.

Despite Russell's demands, Frazier does not believe that he really wants a plane. The police consistently stall for more time, asking Russell to extend the deadline for the plane, since they had no intention to give him one in the first place. Russell made it difficult for them to obtain these extensions but he always allowed them in the end. Frazier feels that Russell has been stalling the police, not vice versa. Later, Frazier tells Russell that his plane is ready but he needs to know that all the hostages are safe before he can give it to Russell. Russell then allows him to enter the bank to see for himself that all the hostages are safe.

Frazier enters the building and sees all the hostages. Upon exiting the bank, he attempts to take the gun away from Russell, but another robber was nearby and stopped him. Russell, angry for the first time in the movie, throws him out. Frazier then demands to know their true intentions. He tells them that they never really wanted a plane in the first place, and that "you've got everybody marching to your beat, including me, and I'm sick of buying it." He demands to know their real intentions. Russell simply replies that Frazier is "too damn smart to be a cop" and closes the door on him.

The robbers then direct the police to point their cameras to a certain window on the second floor, where they apparently execute a hostage. This prompts the SWAT team into action, and they plan to raid the building. Since they cannot tell hostage from robber, they decide to use rubber bullets to simply knock everyone out.

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