“(But) There is a vast difference from being stuck in a tiny cell and being in prison” says the man with a plan as he is staring into the audience at the beginning of this brilliant heist movie by Spike Lee.

Spike Lee did a good job on a previous movie of his, 25th hour. The camera-work, combined with an excellent storyline and superb music are back in Inside man as well. The basic plot may be different, but you can see the hand of Spike, moving the pieces around. The rasism issue, the sex conflicts.

Clive Owen, a cop in Sin City plays the mastermind who breaks into a bank, taking hostages and initiating a long negotiation session with the detective, Denzel Washington. The owner of the bank, Christopher Plummer is terrified of Clive coming across some nazi papers, which will bury him, so he sends in some additional back-up, Jodie Foster.

The people who are inside the bank are taken hostage and dressed in the same uniforms. When the SWAT team finally storms the bank, all are accounted for, except for the mastermind. Where is he?

The movie is combined out of two parts. The action part and the interview part, where the police is desperately trying to figure out who plotted and who was there against its will. The usual suspects mixed with Crash and Hostage do an excellent job at keeping the audience entertained till the end. Oscar material?