SHARKFORUM: OPINION WITH TEETH

Jodie Foster and Denzel Washington are the good guys, Clive Owen is a bank robber and writer-director Lee comes on as an African-American Hitchcock (or Lumet). Lee and Lumet (along with, perhaps, Jewison, Altman, Sayles and, recently Paul Haggis) are adept at treating racism as something which is a GIVEN; up-front, on-the-table, and often just as funny as it is evil. "Inside Man" is not one of Spike's overtly racial joints, so the preceding is a bit of a digression.

What "Inside Man" is is an intelligent heist film with plenty of suspense and atmosphere to burn. It offers a typically intense Denzel Washington performance, but, just as importantly, it returns Jodie Foster to a level of serious dramatic work she has not worked at in her last several outings. Owen is a star as well, with charisma to burn even though he spends a good deal of time with a canvas sack over his face. Owen has gone in 5 short years from an indie curiousity in "Croupier" to working with the likes of Mike Nichols and Spike Lee.

As a bank robber, Owen is something of a criminal genius but his character is also somewhat less than fully drawn. He is also getting some strategic assistance in this heist from the title character. These are, in the end, piddling concerns. When the title is finally explained at the tail of the film it is tribute to the genius of both the director and first-time screenwriter Russell Gewirtz that the ending is truly a surprise. "Inside Man" features two of the best plot twists in recent cinematic memory.

And before deciding on "Inside Man," let us take a moment to praise Spike Lee unreservedly for everything he's ever done in film. Lee has made any number of weak films but he's never, ever made a truly crappy one. Along the way, of course, he has made a handful of masterpieces and done so with a sense of joy one only finds in the very finest artists. Some claim "Do the Right Thing" to be his high point, a benchmark he will never surpass. Others claim that Lee's moves toward the mainstream in recent years have made him "less black." Nothing could be more false. Lee has made many films since "Do the Right Thing" which were better -- the underrated "Jungle Fever" comes to mind. Recently there have been "Bamboozled" and "25th Hour" both excellent films. Lee is that rare artist who continues to improve even as his work is assimilated (that's really the only word) into the mainstream. Denzel did a great job for Spike in "Malcolm X" but this performance here might even be better. In any case, "Inside Man" is one Spike Lee joint I'd be happy to smoke again and again and again. Word.