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Review:
 It
seems Spike Lee is back! After a number of miscues, [Although “The
25th Hour” was great], he's back with a vengeance and one of the
best movies of the year so far. Taking newcomer Russell Gewirtz's
excellent script, he brings the whole affair to another level.
We begin with a the first of many, many red herrings. Dalton
Russell (Clive Owen) himself to the audience and begins to explain
things. We think we know the ending before it begins. Big mistake
on our part. Then we flashback to the beginning where the bank
siege and we first meet Detective Keith Frazier(Denzel Washington)
and his partner Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) hanging out at
the station when they're told they've got a new mission. Keith is
under investigation, of course, and this is his chance to get back
on the good side of his superiors.
John Darius (Willem Dafoe), who's in charge of the siege on the
police side, isn't too happy his regular negotiator is gone, but
what can you do? Meanwhile bank CEO Arthur Case(Christopher
Plummer) is worried about something in a certain safety deposit
box and hires fixer-upper-to-the über-powerful Madaline White
(Jodie Foster) to make sure that the bank-robbers don't get their
hands on it.
So we have at least three groups of people besides the hostages
involved working at cross-purposes. Add to this the interviews
with the hostages after the siege is over intercutted with the
scenes of the siege itself, adding insight and more red herrings.
By the time everything is resolved, we've been through one heck of
a roller coaster ride. It's lots of fun and not nearly as violent
as some other movies of this genre. See it!
Eric Lurio
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