 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Inside Man
- Review Date: August 7, 2006
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2006
Common Sense Media says
Smart heist movie is not for children.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this film includes extreme language (frequent "f--k"s and other profanity, including the "N" word). The robbers take the bank with smoke bombs, dress in masks and painters' coveralls, and look ominous throughout; hostages are frightened, with some crying and others acting tough. The film includes sexual language. Characters display and discuss racism (most often, anti-Arab and anti-black). Characters smoke cigarettes and cigars. One crucial plot point involves a character making money by working with Nazis during WWII.
What's the story?
Set in New York City, INSIDE MAN centers on "the perfect bank robbery" planned by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen). Clad in painters' uniforms and masks, Dalton's team enters the bank at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, disables the surveillance cameras, and takes all the customers, workers, and security guards hostage. By the time detectives Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and his partner Mitch (Chiwetel Ejiofor) arrive, the crime scene is taped off, a mini-city populated by shooters and uniforms, hulking vans and vocal gawkers. Inside the bank, the robbers dress the hostages like themselves, move them from room to room so they can't get to know one another, and dig up a wall in the storage room. Keith has to make nice with turf-protecting Emergency Services Unit Captain Darius (Willem Dafoe), still mad at him for some case they worked years ago. As time ticks, bank board chairman Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) sends an excruciatingly intelligent fixer, Madeline White (Jodie Foster), who knows how to reach the chief robber in charge. And yet, she can't quite solve this puzzle, which involves a special personal safe deposit box inside the bank.
Is it any good?
Tense, showy, and shrewd, Inside Man is Spike Lee's most accessible film, but that's not what makes it brainy or galvanizing. Indeed, its cleverest moments involve odd and telling details: The credits sequence use of "Chaiyya Chaiyya," the white-guy who recognizes but cannot translate Albanian language, and perhaps most energetically, the Sikh who resents being profiled as "Arab."
While the heisty plot includes the sorts of cunning turns familiar since Die Hard, its more compelling aspect is its New Yorkness. The city is everywhere in the film, outside and inside, but mostly, it's the incisive focus, impetus, and consequence. In between the figuring and plotting, the film flash-forwards to exit interviews with the hostage as Mitch and Keith press them to confess their collaboration. This array -- anxious, audacious, arrogant -- is clearly made up for "New York" embodiments, persevering, traumatized, post-9/11. Competing traumas, leveling oppressions, comparable resiliences. It's definitely New York.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the way the film uses the generic bank robbery plot to evoke more profound social and political issues, like racism, corruption, ambition, and post-9/11 fears about surveillance and terrorism. How do Keith and the robber, Dalton, come to understand each other's motives and goals? How does the movie compare the moral positions of upper-crusty characters (who own or run the bank) and "regular folks," who bank or work at the institution?
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AGE
This movie was really great! I thought it would just be ok but i was suprised. The actors Clive Owen and Denzel Washington do an exceedingly execptional job of acting and Jodie Foster does really well. This heist movie is one of a kind and I think kids my age would like it. But it's definately not for the youngsters (12 and under)!
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AGE
Cool
I loved this movie. Very thrilling, but can be a little boring if you are watching it for the 2nd or 3rd time. Very appropaite for most ages.
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AGE
It is nothing new that kids haven't heard or seen. I beleive that it is okay for kids 12 and up.
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AGE
smart heist movie
In the movie [SPOILER ALERT] someone is executed but turns out not dead at all. The violence is quite low. But for some reason I never heard the profanity.
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AGE
Really great movie
Inside Man is by far one of the best movies I have ever seen. You don't have a clue what's going on until the very end, not because it's hard to follow, but because director Spike Lee does such a good job of disguising the true intentions of the bank robbers, who (SPOILER ALERT!) turn out to be harmless good guys. Their guns are fake and they didn't take any money. In one seen, the main robber (Clive Owen) is seen in a vault with a man and his son, who is playing a PSP game very much like Grand Theft Auto. The son is eleven years old, tops. Clive Owen's character discourages that behavior and rebukes the father for letting him play it.
There are two big problems in this movie: the strong language (frequent uses of the f-word, s-word, an instance of the c-word, and lots of other profanities) and the chilling execution scene, which incidentally turned out to be a hoax. Nonetheless, my blood was ice for five minutes.
Some sexual innuendo is present, but only between couples. All in all, this is a very good movie. Parents, take caution in letting your children see this movie. Be present with them and discuss the various elements.
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AGE
Mildly Confusing.
It was kinda confusing towards the middle, but at the end it all comes back together for a nice, funny finish.
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AGE
An edge of your seat heist flick
I rarely watch action or heist films but this kept me insterested all the way. Denzel Washington does an awesome job as a replacement detective dealing with a hostage situatian manned by Clive Owen. Willem Dafoe has a great small part playing a cop and Christopher Plumber plays the owner of the bank that the robbery is situation is taking place. Jodi Foster plays her usual serious, straight foward, possible lesbian she plays most of the time (ei: Silence of the Lambs) but she preforms it well. There are a few questions I was left with at the end of the movie but nothing to major. I wouldn't take the little ones to it but any age after 13 would be fine.
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AGE
good
all that is bad in the movie is f word.
it is said almost 60 times. and many more profanities as well.
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AGE
good movie 12 and over
very good movie almost as good as oceans eleven very smart worth watching 12 and over kids wont under stand it
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| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Director: | Spike Lee |
| Cast: | Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 129 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | March 24, 2006 |
| DVD release date: | August 8, 2006 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language and some violent images |
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