Inside Man
A seminal heist film from two legendary collaborators
Directed By: Spike Lee
Other Notable Films From Lee: Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X, 25th Hour
Starring: Denzel Washington’s gravity, Clive Owen’s voice, Jodie Foster’s ponytail, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s attempt at a New York accent, Willem Dafoe’s wrinkled forehead, Christopher Plummer’s regality, the song “Chaiya Chaiya” by A.R. Rahman
Screenplay By: Russell Gewirtz
Movie Synopsis: A criminal executes the perfect bank robbery.
Signature Line: “And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub.”
THE INTRODUCTION
An accounting of time, and people, and context
I met Spike Lee one time. It was in January of 2018. The way it went was:
As part of the build-up to that year’s NBA All-Star Game, Jordan Brand was hosting an event in Los Angeles called The Future of Flight. It included, among other things, jersey reveals, elaborate displays that highlighted upcoming sneaker drops, and a four-person panel aimed at celebrating basketball culture. The panel, hosted by Kenny “The Jet” Smith, consisted of Spike, famed fashion stylist Aleali May, iconic streetwear designer Don C., and, curiously, me.
Before it started, I was hanging out in a curtained-off green room area, thumbing around on my phone and just generally trying very much not to throw up from nervousness. While I was sitting there, I heard a woman near me say, “You can sit right here, Mr. Lee. We’ll come get you when it’s time to go on stage.” I looked up, and there he was.
Now, it’s important for you to know: I am a big, big fan of Spike Lee. I find him to be a genuine marvel when it comes to movie-making. He is, in my estimation, one of the most brilliant and incisive directors to have ever walked the Earth, and a person could prove that by writing a 60,000-word thesis paper distilling the virtues and merit of his entire filmography, or that person could just go, “The guy made Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, literally two of the greatest movies ever made, so what are we even talking about here?”
Anyway, I looked up and saw that he was suddenly sitting there just a few seats away from me. So I put my phone in my pocket, leaned over, and said, “Excuse me.”
When he looked in my direction, I introduced myself and told him that we’d be on the panel together. And then before he could even respond, I just started talking. I was telling him about how much I loved his movies and his characters and his camera tricks and his writing—I probably talked for 45 seconds straight, which is an incredibly long time to speak unprompted.
And do you know what he did when I was done?
I’ll tell you what he did when I was done:
He smiled, then he thanked me for saying such nice things, and then he talked for 45 seconds straight, thoughtfully responding to each thing I had said. He made it seem like I was the first person who had ever complimented him about any of his movies.
It was incredible.
Unbelievable, even.
I will never forget it.
THE VIEWING
A timestamped rewatch of Inside Man
1:41: Clive Owen’s here. He plays Dalton Russell, the mastermind behind a brilliant heist that I am very excited to get into. I‘ve always loved Clive Owen. When I wrote MOVIES (AND OTHER THINGS) in 2019, I included a whole section in there about how perplexing it was that he didn’t become a gigantic movie star. He had an incredible stretch in the mid-2000s where everything he was in was fucking awesome, and then things just inexplicably kind of fizzled out after that. I didn’t understand it back then, and I still don’t understand it now. I mean, look at this four-year run he had:
2004: He co-stars in Closer, a romantic drama that brought in over $115 million at the box office and earned him an Academy Award nomination (Best Supporting Actor).
2005: He co-stars in Sin City, a neo-noir crime anthology film that makes incredible use of his particular brand of coolness, and Derailed, a crime thriller that prompted Roger Ebert to reinforce his assertion that Owen should’ve been chosen as the new James Bond. (People hated Derailed, but I liked it. In addition to Owen, it starred Jennifer Aniston, The Night Fox from Ocean’s 12, Giancarlo Esposito, RZA, and even Xzibit. I’m not sure what else you need in a movie besides that roster.)
2006: He co-stars in Inside Man and Children of Men, the two best movies of his career and also two of the best movies of the decade. (This is like the acting version of when DMX released two platinum-selling albums in the same year.)
And 2007: He stars in Shoot ‘Em Up, a hyper-stylized action movie that opens with him killing a guy by palm-striking a carrot through the back of his head and snarling, “Eat your vegetables.” (As I’m typing these out, I’m realizing that this movie may have been where things turned for my boy.)
4:24: A fun little Easter egg: As the robbery crew heads to the bank, we get a quick shot of the fake painting company they made up to disguise their transport van. It’s called PERFECTLY PLANNED PAINTING, and their tagline is “We NEVER leave until the job is DONE” (as in: we’re gonna secretly leave a guy hidden in the bank after the robbery and he won’t leave until a week later when everything is clear and the police have stopped poking around).
7:14: The robbery is officially on. Dalton went in first, knocked out the cameras with an ultraviolet light beam, and then his fellow heistmates came in behind him. The doors have been chained shut, the smoke bombs have been deployed, and Dalton is barking orders at the hostages as they lie on the floor. Bank robbery movies are so much fun. I love a good bank robbery crew.
The podium for Best Individual Members of a Bank Robbing Crew:
The runner-up spot goes to the getaway driver (If a movie isn’t driver-specific, this guy is typically the least interesting of the bunch)
The bronze medal spot goes to the person who jumps up on the counter and yells at everybody to get down (This one’s my personal favorite)
The silver medal spot goes to the person with the bad temper who’s looking for any excuse at all to bust someone in the mouth with the butt of his gun
