246 greatest films of all time: #87 Inside Man

Here is a new feature on the fainting goats that will likely never be completed. I have a "master list" of the best 250 or so movies as chosen by me. And by master list I mean I haphazardly assign rankings to films I happen to see on late night cable.

First up, the triumphant trio of Denzel, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen in Inside Man. It's a Spike Lee joint, which I know won't sit well with the racist members of the fainting goat world. But tough shit y'all are crackers.
Anyway here's the opening sequence, all indian music and the 5 W's. As a journalist I do appreciate the dedication to the who, what, when, where and why of a situation. And how!

Tagline: It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you can't judge a crime by its cover.

Plot spoilers
Jodie Foster is the power broker hired to protect the interests of the owner of the bank -- who made all his money dealing with the Nazis during World War II and happens to have all the evidence stored in a bank safety deposit box. She makes time in her busy schedule of getting bin laden's nephew an apartment to try and help him out. But Clive Owen knows the bank owner's dirty secret, and in fact, that is why he's robbing the bank.
Also, Clive hides in a little room that the robbers construct in the back of the store room, then merely walking out of the bank unharassed days later after it reopened. Sneaky sneaky.

Best character
Here I gotta go with Denzel's Detective Keith Frazier. Clive Owen's bank robber is all monotone and calculated, and Foster's Madeleine White is a cunt. Nobody else really sticks out. Willem Defoe is entirely forgettable as the SWAT team commander. But Det. Frazier is all bombast and emotion and conflict. He has all the best lines without a doubt and Denzel turns in his best work since Training Day. Playing anti-heroes (especially somewhat crooked cops) seems to be his new forte.


Notable Quotes
Vikram Walia: Fuckin' tired of this shit. What happened to my fuckin' civil rights? Why can't I go anywhere without being harassed? Get thrown out a bank, I'm a hostage, I get harassed. I go to the airport, I can't go through security without a random selection. Fuckin' random, my ass.
Keith Frazier: I bet you can get a cab though.
Vikram Walia: I guess that's one of the perks.
Ahhhh current events and racial profiling. You see -- Vikram is a Sikh, which means he wears a turban. And that's what terrorists wear. OK, real terrorists probably don't wear turbans because that would get them noticed, but its ironic or something. TAXI!

Madeliene White: Don't take this personally, but I don't think you can afford me.
Keith Frazier: Don't take this personally, Miss White, but kiss my black ass.
I like this exchange because it sounds like Jodie Foster is a high class prostitute. Paging John Hinckley!

Keith Frazier: C'mon! You've seen Dog Day Afternoon! You're stalling!
Chose this over "THIS AINT NO BANK ROBBERY" because it references to another heist flick. I just wish they had recreated something from Heat. Or Point Break.


Another reason to see it
It's a think piece on how we define good and evil in a post-9/11 world, taking a no-holds-barred look at a variety of issues including corruption and multiculturalism. At first you think the bank robbers are the bad guys, but then it turns out old Nazi McBanker is the real asshole. Plus it has a twist you never would have expected if you hadn't read the spoilers above.