I squeezed my mother’s hand tightly as bank robbers entered one of New York City’s largest banks, Manhattan Savings Bank. Having grown up in The Big Apple where my father worked in a banking position for several years, my family was all too familiar with the terrifying scene: several men, several weapons and several hostages. It was a different kind of Spike Lee film; “Inside Man” brought the grim realities of a bank heist up close and personal.
My family found it unusual that I was interested in seeing another Spike Lee film after having walked out of “Summer of Sam” several years ago. Perhaps, the violence, terror and X-rated language often shy me away from his films, but I was pleasantly surprised with his most recent film, “Inside Man.” With an award-winning cast and strategic plot, Lee’s movie satisfied viewers’ desire for suspense, comedy, and fear. From Jodie Foster to Denzel Washington, “Inside Man” takes viewers on a whirlwind adventure full of sarcasm and deceit amidst a witty love story.
It seemed like the perfect bank robbery with a tape recorder that tricked New York City’s Finest into believing the robbers were Armenian hostages that were ordered to wear the same jumpsuits and disguises as their captures and executions and beatings bringing terror to witnesses watching the bank’s surveillance cameras. Pizza and subs had even been given to the hostages, and as the mastermind spoke with his youngest hostage, a young boy, about his dissatisfaction with video game violence, “his people” discovered the bank’s secrets. It’s a secret that I shouldn’t share, but one that indeed leaves viewers begging for more edge-of-their seat, nail-biting action.