Review by Bryce Zabel
A great match-up -- two powerful films about New York City bank robberies, hostage negotiations and media overkill. Should you pay for the big night out and see Inside Man? Or maybe rent the classic Dog Day Afternoon? That's our Smackdown. In this corner, Inside Man...
"Who cares if it makes sense? It looks so damn good!"
Denzel Washington stars as Detective Keith Frazier who catches the case of a bank robbery where the master thief he's up against, Dalton Russell (played by the always good Clive Owen), thinks he's committed the perfect crime, albeit one where no money is stolen. He and his group of anonymous thiefs waltz in wearing painters clothes, storm the bank, seize the cellphones and tell everybody to strip and put on identical outfits. Let's put it this way. These guys had a substantial investment at Urban Outfitters before they even got in the door.
Even though he plays his film like the straight-ahead, old-fashioned heist movie it is, director Spike Lee also got a lot of inspiration for his film from the film story of another bank robbery. In that true event, a minor league robber named Sonny Wortzik ended up being played by a major league actor, Al Pacino. In this corner, Dog Day Afternoon...
"Hey! I'm actin' here!"
I just saw both of these films in the same day and all I can say is... I'm never going in a bank again. I'm doing the whole banking thing on Internet from now on.
Inside Man is ruling the box office this weekend and Dog Day Afternoon just came out with a 30th anniversary DVD. Both films work, just differently. Inside Man is a far bigger movie in terms of the production and it has far bigger holes in its story. Dog Day Afternoon got nominations in 1975 for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director -- but that was three decades ago. And even though we don't know what 2006 has in store for Inside Man, an Oscar is probably not there. It may be the perfect bank robbery as Clive Owen says -- but it's not the perfect movie.
"Those glasses... are they Ray-Bans because they're very cool."
One other thing that hits you watching these films back-to-back is that in Dog Day Afternoon you really, really get to know the bank robbers but not the cops and in Inside Man you really, really get to know the cops but not the bank robbers. In Sonny Wortzik's world, we meet his mother, his wife, his lover who's waiting for a sex change operation. In Dalton Russell's world, we meet, well, nobody. POV is totally different in these two films.
But a Smackdown's about you. Where do you put your time and money? Here's how I see it.
Inside Man. The truth is Dog Day Afternoon just lacks the sustained interest of Inside Man, and we're talking about two hours of your life, not film school. The thing is Pacino's character is doomed from the start but everything's up for grabs in Inside Man. So get out the credit cards and head to the multiplex. This one's worth going out for.
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