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Pretty Good

People are voting emotionally.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A compelling heist movie with some unique twists. Fairly even performances, especially from Washington and Plummer. There's some clever plot devices; the foreshadowing, though a bit confusing, adds energy, and builds anticipation . Forcing the hostages to dress like the robbers was a great idea, as it made the subsequent escape plausible. Since no one knew what the robbers looked like, interrogating the bus load of hostages became a frustrating exercise for Washington and his cohorts. The robbers treated the hostages better than the police. That blurring of good guy/bad guy divides our sympathy between Washington and Owen.That leaves room for the Nazi-collaborator Arthur Case (Plummer) to emerge as the actual bad guy. The 'robbers' only steal incriminating evidence to blackmail Plummer. But why not break in at night so they don't have to fuss with fifty hostages and a ton of cops? I guess we had to make room for Jodie Foster.Her role makes no sense. She takes over an enormous police situation, with no standing or credentials. That snapped my suspension of disbelief. If she were the mayor, and insinuated herself into the crisis, it might just add up. As far as the police are concerned, she should be no more than just another onlooker. Exposing a war criminal is sufficient motive for Owen to go after Plummer; we don't need a whole subplot with Foster to establish that. She goes through her many scenes with a smug grin, lapsing into nearly incomprehensible mumbling too often. Maybe give her Washington's role and she what she does with it.As others have said, though Washington's Frazier is jovial, his demeanor fits. He's overwhelmed by the situation: his humor springs from exasperation, not over-confidence. That he relishes his advantage over Plummer in their last meeting is all the more convincing, as he's been successively surprised, scrutinized, dismissed, ignored, and even under suspicion.One of his surprises came from the captain. I can't understand why he would just smile and say the whole deal is no big thing: no one hurt, nothing of (monetary) value taken, no suspects, no crime. That's absurd. Toy guns and fake murders or not, taking a heap of hostages, roughing up some of them, turning out half the police in the city, disrupting business, etc., are all crimes of some sort.That the actual pilfering of the incriminating documents has a beneficial ulterior motive is beside the point. Does the captain have some ulterior motive too? What's the point of some misdeed hanging over Frazier? Thankfully, we have fairly slick pacing, cool dialogue, and enough good plot bits. The kid describing his sadistic video game to Owen, and the irritable construction worker going on about his Albanian ex-wife are gems.In addition to Foster's underdeveloped character, there's a non-existent back story. By passing up Owen's planning of the crime, the film leaves out a crucial element of the heist genre. Owen's motivation makes sense, but why is he interested in Nazi war criminals? He's a few generations distant from WWII. And, what of his three accomplices? Why did they throw in with him? It would've made more sense if they were in it for the money; have a real robbery for them, and the war crimes documents for Owen.Inside Man left detours and dead ends, but entertained all the same.

Just discovered this movie and I was amused that the start of the movie is the same plot as casa de papel (money heist) ! Plus other similarities. Apart from that the movie is entertaining and well played

While I am not a sophisticated movie reviewer, I do watch a lot of movies. I cannot recommend this one. The biggest reason is because we don't know the robbers motive and backstory - this really harms the movie. It was so disappointing for me. I didn't root for anyone and I'm left without knowing the point of the movie. Additionally, unless I dozed off, I didn't understand why they were digging a hole into the concrete floor - what was the objective of this and why didn't the police find the hole in the floor? I personally didn't like the mood of the movie, nor did I feel that it was well casted - William Defoe and Denzel Washington just didn't sell for me. Finally, I feel a little obtuse here, but I didn't understand Jodie Fosters character in this movie at all.On the upside, I did enjoy the plot twists. It had potential.

I see more things every time I watch the movie... not just another smart thriller... but a very smart projection of a common story not known for commoners... most of all when using the real name in the script... I must admit it is a great work