Filed under: Reviews, Movies Brian @ 11:09 am Director Spike Lee takes a step toward the mainstream with , a fun, solid heist movie that attempts to rise above the limits of its genre. While enjoyable, the film is long on suspense but too short on plot and character motivation. opens as Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) introduces himself to the audience via direct address.
He s a tough, plain-talking man, and we soon come to realize that he has planned the perfect heist: a robbery of a Wall Street bank. He and his cohorts lay siege to the bank while dressed in painters overalls and masks, then dress their hostages in the same clothes so that everyone inside the bank looks the exactly same, further complicating matters for the police outside. Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington), a hostage negotiator, is assigned to the case.
Assertive and cocksure, bounding through the streets wearing a tilted Panama hat while dealing with both cops and civilians, Frazier quickly surmises that Russell s plans are more ambitious than a simple bank theft. Why, Frazier wonders, don t the bank robbers seem to be in a hurry to have their demands met? The bank s owner, Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), has a special interest in the fate of the branch, too, since he has items stored in a safe deposit box which he wants kept secret.
Needless to say, these items are also of special interest to Russell. In an effort to maintain control, Case employs Madeline White (Jodie Foster), an influential and powerful fixer who will work behind the scenes to ensure that Case s interests are being looked after.
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