BEFORE: Plane info - check. Laptop computer and headphones, so I can watch DVDs - check. 5 Star Wars-themed novelty T-shirts, check. 2 Hawaiian shirts, check. Cell phone charger (very important), check. Socks, baseball caps, toothbrush, deodorant - check, check. Books and newspaper to read on the plane - check. Damn, I wish I could remember what I'm forgetting...
THE PLOT: A cop has to talk down a bank robber after the criminal's perfect heist spirals into a hostage situation.
AFTER: This is a twisty little bank heist movie, one you need to pay close attention to in order to figure out what's going on. The bank robbers dress all their hostages in blue hazmat suits and masks, similar to the ones they're wearing themselves, with a plan to completely confound the hostages and also the police. The tense drama plays out, as the bank's owner takes steps to protect the mysterious contents of a safe deposit box inside the bank.
Denzel Washington's Detective Frazier pulls double duty - he has to deal with the bank robbers during the hostage situation, and then he has to interview all of the hostages afterwards, to figure out exactly what happened. The two timelines are interwoven, so we learn more about the plan as it plays out, and as the detectives figure it out after the fact.
It's an ingenious plan, and a well-structured film, directed by Spike Lee - and very different from his other films... This is about as close to the "perfect" bank robbery as I've ever seen portrayed on film, but there are schemes within schemes, and other concerns beyond simple robbery - to say any more would give it away.
Also starring Clive Owen (last seen in "Children of Men"), Jodie Foster (last seen in...um, "Taxi Driver"?), Chiwetel Ejiofor (last seen in "American Gangster"), Christopher Plummer (last heard in "Up"), Willem Dafoe, Ken Leung (from "Oz" and "Lost") and Darryl Mitchell (last seen in "Lucky Numbers").
RATING: 7 out of 10 pizzas
Dear daddy -
ReplyDeleteI miss you already.
Love Merlin, Gypsy and Data
MGD:ms