By Robert Scucci
| Published
Your typical heist film involves an elaborate plan to grab the money and run, but 2006’s Inside Man isn’t your typical heist movie. You don’t fully grasp what’s at stake until that “aha” moment when everything clicks. While it has hostages, wire-tapped pizza orders, and demands for jets, Inside Man twists every trope in the genre, making it one of the best of its kind.
It’ll also have you yelling “What’s in the Box?” like the ending of Se7en.
The Perfect Plan
Inside Man centers on Clive Owen’s Dalton Russell, a criminal mastermind who stays calm, collected, and always 10 steps ahead of Denzel Washington’s Detective Keith Frazier. From his opening monologue, when he breaks the fourth wall to announce he’s pulled off the perfect heist from what looks like a jail cell, you know you’re in for something different. His cocky delivery makes it clear we’re not getting the whole story.
It’s Not About Money
What sets Spike Lee’s Inside Man apart from its contemporaries is Russell’s motivation. He isn’t violent and doesn’t want collateral damage. He isn’t even after the vault’s cash, which Frazier quickly notices. With help from fixer Madeleine White (Jodie Foster), brought in by bank owner Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), Frazier realizes the heist is less about money and more about exposing a secret hidden in the vault.
Violence Isn’t Always The Answer
Frazier initially assumes he’s dealing with a pack of violent criminals, but White, an expert at reading people in high-pressure situations, points out that Russell and his accomplices don’t fit the profile. Russell’s strategy proves it, as every hostage is dressed to look exactly like their captors, creating confusion for the police and buying his crew time as they work through their master plan using mostly nonviolent means.
Russell keeps his eye on the prize, commanding a room with pure intimidation when he needs to, but he also knows when to show kindness and discretion. The best example comes when he notices a young boy playing a violent video game. Russell makes sure the kid has enough pizza, then warns him he’ll be having words with his father about what he’s letting him play. This small but telling moment shows Russell may be a criminal, but he’s not without a conscience.
A Compounding Mystery With An Unexpected Payoff
Inside Man earns its keep by never showing all its cards at once. A bank is robbed, but not for its money. Hostages are made to look just like their captors. The detective chasing the case has his own questionable past. And the ones with the most to lose reveal themselves to be the most corrupt.
There isn’t a clear good guy or bad guy in Inside Man, but rather a group of flawed people trying to navigate a situation that spirals out of control. The endgame doesn’t become clear until well into the third act, and when it finally does, it lands in a way that makes the entire ordeal worth it.
As of this writing, Inside Man is streaming on Netflix.
