As we come to the close of our crime block, examining the criminal protagonist and what makes them so appealing, I want to come back to what may be a forgotten gem (albeit, not quite hidden) about the perfect bank heist for just about the perfect reason—Spike Lee’s Inside Man. That’s right, we’re going to rob a bank again, but this time, it’s not just for poetic justice. The movie opens with an establishing montage over “Chaiyya Chaiyya”, from the well-known and well-loved Bollywood hit, Dil Se, reminding me of the time when the culture was obsessed with Indian music and you couldn’t go more than five minutes without hearing Jay-Z and Punjabi MC over a Bollywood beat. It also has Clive Owen (Children of Men, Gosford Park) explaining to you, the viewer, how he’s about to pull off the perfect robbery. Pretty bold stuff, he even tells you his name, Dalton Russell. I always thought you’re supposed to hide your identity when committing crimes, but what do I know?
We then move to a serene and ornate bank, back in the time when people still had to go to banks, just sitting there, like low-hanging fruit, just ready to be picked. The robbers, dressed as painters, come in, disable the cameras, and proceed to do the bank robber thing. Fire the gun in the air, tell everyone to get down, give up their phones, don’t look at their faces, and then, uncharacteristically of many a bank robbery (at least in movies), strip and put on a bunch of matching jumpsuits and masks. The plan is brilliant—obfuscate everyone’s identity, so that not just the cops, but even the hostages themselves are unable to tell who is who. What becomes a merry-go-round of confusion is a cover for a brilliant, meticulously planned heist, while a troubled detective and a SWAT team with itchy trigger fingers sit outside, trying to figure out what to do. While Dalton plays a hostage shell game, the police are forced to sit outside and twiddle their thumbs, waiting for Dalton to make a wrong move. And as the film progresses, you get the feeling that Dalton isn’t the kind of guy who makes wrong moves.
And here lies the absolute brilliance of Inside Man. It’s not that the heist is brilliant, even though it is, it’s not that the perpetrator is charismatic and likable, even though he is, it’s that Spike Lee turns the whole thing on its head. Normally, you wouldn’t side with hostage takers. Normally, you wouldn’t want the people robbing the bank to win. Normally, you’d root for the de facto heroes to be the ones who swoop in to save the day. But in this world, the de facto heroes are cops and anything but and Spike Lee is keen to point that out with just enough subtlety so as not to beat you over the head with it. This is the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen the movie, but like the man who is changed the next time he walks into a river, every time you rewatch a movie, you approach it as a different person, with different experiences, and different perspectives. And I’ve noticed that since I started watching movies with pen in hand for this blog, I see so much more that I’m able to analyze (and sometimes overanalyze, I’m sure). And Inside Man is no different; Lee makes sure that even though the detectives we’re inclined to side with—Keith Frazier, played by Denzel Washington (Training Day, Fences), and Bill Mitchell, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, Dr. Strange)—are the more honest type, they have allegations hanging over them, particularly Frazier. Someone claims he’s responsible for $140,000 going missing from a bust and, while he proclaims his innocence and we’re inclined to believe him, he has no better explanation than the criminal accusing him is a liar—a refrain we’ve heard all too often about those attempting to expose the crimes of those in power (even if the power they wield is as little as an NYPD detective third grade).
And despite both Frazier and Mitchell being Black, the rest of the cops are just racist enough so as to make it obvious, but not so obvious that you can’t miss it if you’re not paying attention. Maybe you’re just used to it and jaded or you’ve simply come to expect it, but it’s there for a reason. People are referred to using derogatory racial epithets, one beat cop catches himself about to describe a suspect with the N-word to Frazier, they rough up a Sikh and treat him like a terrorist, even taking his turban, which is a very important part of his religion. All this is in pursuit of showing you, the audience, that the police here are not the protagonists—not the main ones, anyway. Dalton and his merry band of bank robbers are indeed the protagonists of the film, and they’re not altruists either. But in an imperfect world, demanding perfection from your heroes is the path to ruin and disappointment every time. As Dalton explains, he’s definitely in it for the money, but that the money isn’t worth much if he can’t face himself in the mirror. If only more people had that level of integrity and self awareness. Yes, I’m aware I’m saying this about a man who walked into a bank, fired a revolver in the air, and forced people to experience the scariest day of their lives. He also resorts to violence on more than one occasion. So, maybe don’t put a poster of him on your wall, but it’s still okay to root for him. The police, even our secondary protagonists Frazier and Mitchell, lack this self awareness to varying degrees, and this is what makes the movie work so well. SWAT captain John Darius, played by the always fantastic Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Platoon) definitely lacks this, just waiting for a reason to send his men in and settle the issue with extreme finality. Everyone has a trigger and someone is always ready to pull it at a moment’s notice for their own benefit.
Enter power broker Madeleine White, played by Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), who is called in by the bank owner Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer, Knives Out) who wants her to come in and settle the issue her way—quickly and quietly, by wielding power and influence with some of New York’s most powerful and influential. Oh, the back room deals she’s been involved with, that would be quite a story indeed. Of course, you don’t get to the position she’s in without being incredibly intelligent and a keen reader of people, so she intuits immediately that the reason she’s being asked to take care of this is because there’s something either so incredibly embarrassing or so incredibly sensitive that Case doesn’t want it getting into anyone’s hands, whether they be the criminals’ hands—or the cops’. After all, a bank robbery in the news deosn’t usually turn people against the bank; they look at the bank and its employees and the hostages as victims, garnering sympathy and thoughts and prayers. Suffice it to say, the thing he’s hiding is beyond incriminating (in the world of 2006, anyway; now, I’m not so sure) and he’s keen to never let it see the light of day. It’s at this point that White starts working her magic behind the scenes, even getting a face to masked face with Dalton after leaning on the mayor to get her in. It’s quite the scene.
What Spike Lee pulls off with Inside Man is similar to what Rian Johnson pulls off with Knives Out and Glass Onion. He doesn’t play hide the ball, he puts it all up front, cards on the table, face up, and still somehow you’re surprised when it plays out exactly the way he tells you it’s going to play out. It’s a hell of a feat as a director and very impressive by all involved. In an age where movies are increasingly reliant on CGI, big set pieces, and wild, unearned plot twists in an attempt to engage and/or fool the audience, it’s so refreshing just to see good, strong narrative storytelling that tracks from start to finish and still keeps you guessing without ever feeling cheap or manipulative. Dalton is completely upfront with the viewer—and even the police—about his plans and yet he’s still able to pull them off in the most satisfying way.
And like I said earlier, it’s not his brilliance that makes you like him and root for him. It’s the motivation behind the crime. I won’t tell you what it is, of course, because that’s something you should see for the first time on screen and experience it for yourself. Of course, banks have a lot of money and that’s not a bad reason for someone to rob them—after all, in Hell or High Water, the motives were straightforward and the method simple, but you still rooted for them, and that’s because of the why. Dalton shows you who he is time and time again—for example, when taking phones from everyone, he lets the one child in the bank keep his handheld gaming system, a Sony PSP (perhaps dating the film even more than the prevalence of flip phones), and when he sees the game the kid is playing, he says he’s going to have a word with his father. Not being awful to kids is a low bar, but these days, so many people fail to make it over it and stumble, at best, that seeing this violent criminal show kindness and concern for his child hostage is immediately endearing. And when you finally learn the true motivation behind the bank robbery, you are completely on his side. Even if the cops weren’t awful and trying so very hard to hide their racist and authoritative ways, you’d still be on Dalton’s side. That is how noble his cause is. Yes, he will make a lot of money doing this, but in doing so, he will also further the cause of justice. In some ways, that doesn’t make him too different from our blind lawyer in Hell’s Kitchen, but not quite the same. All evil deeds are found out, after all, because they stink—as much as you try to cover them up, the smell never truly goes away. I do so hope that’s true.
I wanted to end the crime block with this movie because of Dalton Russell—because he’s such an easy protagonist to get behind. He exemplifies why criminal protagonists are so compelling; arrogant, but with cause, charismatic and likable, and doing it for the right reasons. He’s motivated by money, sure, but not by greed, unlike some of the other characters in the movie who would be victims or protagonists in another film. It is a fine line to toe and here Spike Lee has Clive Owen not just toeing it, but dancing on it, doing the full plié. At 2 hours and 9 minutes, it’s not exactly a breezy film, but it’s not bloated. It’s another movie where just about every scene serves a purpose. It’s not the perfectly crafted Late Night with the Devil, where every minute detail is there for a reason, but it is very well done, managing an 86% RT score with an 85% audience score as well. I hope this look at criminal protagonists has been interesting and, above all else, fun for you. I will be returning to the regularly scheduled eclectic programming from here, at least for the time being, and to a weekly release. I’m sorry for the unplanned hiatus, I was dealing with some illness in the family; not to worry, we’re all fine now and thank you to everyone who reached out to me over the last three weeks, I really appreciate it. And more than anything, I appreciate all of you who read this plucky little one man show. More to come!
Also, I would like to take a moment to wish all in the LGBTQ+ community a safe and happy Pride Month! The world is a better place with you in it and I strive to make this blog a place where people of all genders and all orientations are and feel welcome. Art is for everyone and discussions about art should include everyone as well.