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Inside Man is good enough to restore your faith in mainstream moviemaking.

Viewers may be surprised at the smoothness with which the frequently bombastic Spike Lee navigates the mainstream. Aided by Russell Gewirtz’s witty screenplay and a dynamic cast headed by Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster, Lee delivers a top-tier heist flick.

Although each headliner has individual scenes that qualify as star treatment, the A-list trio services the story. And, for the most part, so does Lee. Some of his signature touches are better suited to his “message” movies, while others, including flash-forward police interrogations, work on behalf of the story.

Washington, a frequent Lee compadre, plays NYPD hostage negotiator Keith Frazier, who is called to deal with a Wall Street bank robbery where at least 50 hostages have been taken. Owen plays heist master Dalton Russell, who engineers a fiendishly ingenious heist. Aside from state-of-the-art weaponry, he’s armed with a withering sarcasm that’s as piercing as any bullet.

Frazier is no slouch when it comes to repartee, and one of the movie’s pleasures is witnessing the pungent verbal duels between Washington’s Frazier and Owen’s Russell. Both actors are outstanding, with Owen suggesting layers of subtext for his philosophical baddie.

Foster, with less footage than her co-stars, delivers a quietly devastating performance as frosty, arrogant power broker Madeline White. Dressed in exquisite designer garb, she oozes the smugness of someone who knows where bodies are buried as well as who buried them.

Madeline is the key link to a subplot involving bank chairman Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), who knows more than he’s telling. Although Case seems lifted from the poignant German/Hungarian film Gloomy Sunday, the silken Plummer makes him as pitiable as he is despicable. Willem Dafoe, for once on the right side of the law, has strong moments as a self-important captain of the Emergency Services Unit.

Many heist movies falter in their resolution, and, sadly, Inside Man is no exception. Its conclusion is prolonged, and some questions remain unanswered unless you watch and listen very attentively.

The musical score ranges from grand orchestrations to Bollywood hits. Like the movie, its canvas stretches at points. But also like the movie, it works. With Inside Man, Lee does the right thing.[[In-content Ad]]

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