Inside Man (2006)
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A high-stakes bank heist on Wall Street evolves into a complex hostage situation involving a mysterious safe deposit box.
The story
In New York City, a group of masked robbers takes control of a Manhattan bank, holding patrons and employees hostage. They divide the hostages into groups and force them to wear identical masks and coveralls, creating confusion about who is a hostage and who is a criminal. Detective Keith Frazier, the NYPD's hostage negotiator, leads the police response. Meanwhile, the bank's founder, Arthur Case, hires a fixer, Madeleine White, to ensure the contents of a specific safe deposit box remain protected from the robbers. As the standoff unfolds, the police and the negotiator must navigate the robbers' calculated tactics and the mysterious secrets hidden within the bank's vault.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
During a sophisticated bank heist in Manhattan, robbers use identical clothing and masks to hide among hostages. Detective Keith Frazier negotiates with the mastermind, Dalton Russell, while the bank's founder, Arthur Case, hires fixer Madeleine White to protect a secret in a specific safe deposit box. Russell eventually breaks into the box and finds documents from Nazi Germany. During the standoff, the police are tricked into a tactical error, allowing the robbers to escape and blend in with the hostages. After the heist, Frazier discovers that the safe deposit box had been omitted from records since 1948. He eventually learns that the box contained diamonds and a ring linked to Case's war crimes. The film concludes with Russell escaping with the loot and a note for Frazier to 'follow the ring,' while Frazier realizes the heist was a calculated move to expose Case's past. Russell is seen a week later with the stolen goods, and Frazier eventually confronts White regarding the truth of the contents.
- First release year
- 2006
- Runtime (minutes)
- 129
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Spike Lee
- Writers
- Russell Gewirtz · writer
- Cast and characters
- Denzel Washington · Detective Keith Frazier; Clive Owen · Dalton Russell; Jodie Foster · Madeleine White; Christopher Plummer · Arthur Case; Willem Dafoe · Captain John Darius; Chiwetel Ejiofor · Detective Bill Mitchell
- Genres
- crime; thriller
- Themes
- justice; war crimes; identity
- Tone and mood
- tense; suspenseful
- Premise and plot tags
- heist; hostage_negotiation; crime_thriller
- Source material / true-story basis
- Original screenplay
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was praised for its clever execution of the heist genre and strong performances.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 86% · scale: percentage · review count: 210; Metacritic · score: 76 · scale: 100 · review count: 39
- Awards and nominations
- American Film Institute · top ten films of 2006 · 2006 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The production used a real former Wall Street bank as the primary set.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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