Inside Man

‘Inside Man’ was directed by Spike Lee and written by Russell Gewirtz. Its’ under the genre: crime, drama and thriller. The lead role was played by Denzel Washington acting as ‘Detective Keith Frazier’. The mastermind behind the bank robbery was Clive Owen acting as ‘Dalton Russell’. Jodie Foster also starred in the movie.

The main reasons this film fits under the thriller genre; is because there are criminals involved in a bank robbery. There are police officers and detectives. There is bloodshed involved in the hostage situation. The setting is shot from within a bank. All the lights were switched off and at night not much light got through the windows as they used flashlights instead; this created a high tense atmosphere.

The bank robbers used painter outfits, with a white cloth type material over half of their face. This kept their identities hidden from the hostages and the audience; this increased the amount of confusion amongst the viewers, and challenges the audience to wonder who was, or wasn’t the villain.

This movie in particular promoted intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra - heightened expectation, anxiety and nerve – wracking tension. The explanation is this is because there are bank robbers in an impossible situation, where there are dozens of police units outside, hundreds of spectators and at least thirty hostages within the bank; the possibility of them escaping untouched/unseen. Throughout the film there are many points where the on edge observation by the viewer takes a whole new level. This tests the audience to question and be unsure of what could happen next and what may not happen subsequently.

Many films have similar features under a thriller genre, but it takes perfection to make a thriller, with a twist at every corner. Spike Lee and Russell Gewirtz have created a faultless story. Who would have imagined that the whole robbery was ruse? The plan that was created was flawless. The team got out successfully without charge along with the hostages, and Dalton Russell – ‘Clive Owen’ remained in the bank overnight (hidden in a compartment that they created) and left the bank through the front door, as he told Detective Keith Frazier he would. Dalton literally walked into Detective Frazier as he left the bank the next day, this was the tip of the iceberg for his plan; he followed through on his word; and the film ended with Detective Frazier finding a diamond in his pocket and realising what had happened at the bank.

The Mise-en-Scene used in this film was very well done. Their costumes fit the part of the criminals perfectly and the fact that the props they used turned out to be fake guns was a huge surprise. Plus the blanket that was used to stage an execution was also genius.

The lighting was pretty much always in the day as the robbery took place early in the morning went through the night but a lot quicker than the scenes in the day.

The editing in this film was outstanding and I particularly liked the scene where Denzel Washington lost the plot and wanted to really take his anger out on Clive Owen. As he left the Police vehicle he was on what seemed like a pedometer (you couldn't see it) but was very fast and emphasized his frustration with the execution that took place.

I think that the sound was pulled off brilliantly as the shift between the police and the criminals was very clear. Whenever the attention was on Clive Owen and the crew the Non-diagetic music would be very low pitched and dramatic, whereas whenever the attention was on the detectives the Non-diagetic music was very upbeat and adventurous to show that they are on a quest to track down the criminals.

The primary target audience would have been 15-40 year olds as they are the people who would be most interested with a crime thrilling action film. Their secondary target audience would have been anyone who accepted either action or dramatic films.