Clive Owen is in the middle of a perfect bank robbery on Wall Street. Denzell Washington is the cop in charge, and the bank's owner, Christopher Plummer, wants something in a safe deposit box safeguarded. He calls fixer Jodie Foster, and she calls in a lot of favors for a private talk with Owen.
It's a riddle wrapped within an enigma within a caper film. Once upon a time, director King Vidor said he made one for the studio, and they let him make one for himself. This movie was made by director Spike Lee for the studio, and it's a beauty: not only is the story compelling, its character ambiguities a constant compelling series of mysteries that keep you watching. He's directing a great cast, and set them doing their work, each very competent, each tugging and pulling the movie in his or her own direction. It's a structure like Fred Zinneman's version of THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.... except that in that movie, you knew DeGaulle was not going to get shot. In this one, you don't even know that.
It's a riddle wrapped within an enigma within a caper film. Once upon a time, director King Vidor said he made one for the studio, and they let him make one for himself. This movie was made by director Spike Lee for the studio, and it's a beauty: not only is the story compelling, its character ambiguities a constant compelling series of mysteries that keep you watching. He's directing a great cast, and set them doing their work, each very competent, each tugging and pulling the movie in his or her own direction. It's a structure like Fred Zinneman's version of THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.... except that in that movie, you knew DeGaulle was not going to get shot. In this one, you don't even know that.