Inside Man

I spent the early part of my Easter going to see the latest Spike Lee joint Inside Man. I'm a sucker for heist movies like Oceans 11 and Italian Job, so my interest was there. I was however suprised by just how much I enjoyed this movie. Spike Lee's influence could be felt at times, his camera tricks and the sprinkling of racially charged dialogue, but not enough to deter me from watching. Here's my thoughts about the killer casting.

Denzel Washington is a really good actor. It's easy to say he's a good black actor, but I think that's kind of shitty considering I am white. At this stage of his career, I will see anything the guy does on the basis that I find him to be very talented and one of the more charismatic actors of this generation. When he teams with Spike Lee, he always delivers and his take on this crafty NYC detective is some of his best work in the last couple of years.

Clive Owen plays a good villian. It was great to see Clive move into playing a villian without going the superhero movie route. Clive has always impressed me, but now I like him even more. He makes being bad seem cool....but not ruthless or stupid.

Jodie Foster is hot. My God. I know she is probably a dyke and is older than my usual tastes, but she exudes a sexual energy in this role in this movie like I've never seen from her. Some old guy calls her a cunt in the movie and she loved it, so it was interesting to see her play a nasty broad for a change. And the chemistry between her and Denzel is surprising, Spike filmed their scenes as if they have no room and as a result they are in each other's face and it works.

If you like the double cross thriller, then this one is not goint to disappoint. Especially since it has a better cast than most fare of this variety.