What is so fascinating about Inside Man is that as intelligent as the script is, it does not pay off very well. Once the climax arrived, I must admit to feeling a little let down. For all of the tension that is built up over the two-hour movie, I could not muster up enough reason to care. Fortunately, it's so entertaining it is still a movie worth watching.
The performances are first rate. Denzel Washington is playing a role he could do in his sleep with both hands tied behind his back. He brings an intensity with a touch of moral ambiguity, just to keep you guessing. Meanwhile, Clive Owen is always in control, always knows how to control the situation. He is calm, cool, and collected at every moment. These two own the film. Where lesser actors could have made this a chore, these two keep you glued to the screen every moment.
This is, by far, Spike Lee's most mainstream film, further evidenced by its box office take ($88 million). Still, while this targeted the mainstream audience, it still has plenty of style. Besides what Washington and Owen bring to the table, Lee brings a great visual style that helps liven up the feature. There are crane and dolly shots galore, helping make this your atypical blockbuster, putting a stamp on it. On top of that, there are a number of scenes involving life in New York and race relations that have Spike's fingerprints all over them. He brings a lot of flavor to the story, making the movie better in the end.
Audio/Video. The image retains its original 2.35:1 ratio of the theatrical presentation (have any Blu-rays presented a modified ratio?). The color palette looks as I remember from the theater, not terribly bright, but not washed out either. There is a very realistic feel to the way it looks. The high definition format brings a lot of detail to the frame, all helping bring life to the bank set and the streets of NYC immediately around the building.
The audio, in English DTS-HD 5.1 sounds excellent as well. Standing out in the sound mix is the score by Terence Blanchard, his music is very good with strong themes, heroic for the police and ominous for the robbers. There are also nice ambient effects and things you would not normally pay attention to, but the footsteps of people walking through the bank are also quite good.
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