Detective Frazier (Washington) is aiming high and one good case should cement his career. It arrives when Dalton Russell (Owen) takes forty hostages inside a Wall St bank. They’re stripped, redressed in their captor’s clothes and fed pizza. Enter perky Ms. White (Foster), a negotiator for the bank’s owner (Christopher Plummer) who wants to keep his dark secrets hidden. She has a word with Russell who releases the hostages without stealing a penny. Or so it seems. By then, retribution has run its course, and Frazier has got his promotion.

This is surprisingly main-stream material for Spike Lee, better known for race-based drama like Malcolm X or Summer of Sam. Inside Man wants to be liked and there is much that is appealing – Lee’s non-linear structure for one thing. He attacks the cat-and-mouse antics with some flair although can’t help infusing certain ticks that, once they begin to mass, become irritating. His tone is often uncertain and again it feels like he has several movies in his head while making this one. An intrusive score that jumps from Bond-villain to hooker-jazz does no favours.

Some big issues are addressed; blood money, bigotry, corruption and seduction. It toys with the anti-American sentiment, formerly the domain of indie-filmmakers like Lee that is now fashionable currency in Hollywood. Yet by story’s end when Inside Man redeems most of its largest moments, these big ticket themes begin to feel grafted extensions rather than the essence of the film itself. What was it all about? Very little if truth be told.

// COLIN FRASER