Inside Man

For being labeled a "crime thriller" I was less than thrilled with "Inside Man". Considering it stars Denzel Washington, Jodi Foster, Clive Owen, and Willem Dafoe, I was flat out disappointed.

What appears to be a mere bank robbery quickly becomes much more as it becomes apparent that the bad guys are clearly out for more than just money. The question that confounds the chief detective on the case (Washington) more and more though, is what, if not the money, is it the thieves are after? We are then pelted with more characters than we count, from the hostages inside the bank, some of whom may be the bad guys, to the bank president (Christopher Plummer) and the woman he hires to protect his secret (Foster).

Everyone here has a side story, whether instrumental to the storyline or not. While each character is unique, there are too many to really identify with to care about. If anyone shines here, it's Foster as the scheming corporate power-player. Then finally, after what is an intriguing build up, the end result gets bogged down in a plot from WWII to make money off of the Nazis and the Jews. When it was all said and done, I was sorry I had gone out to see "Inside Man". I give it a B-.

"Inside Man" is rated R with a running time of 129 minutes.