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Inside Man
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (18th May 2009). |
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The Film
 Spike Lee is known for making films that deal with social and political issues, his landmark 1989 film "Do The Right Thing" dealt with race issues between African Americans and Italians, 1991's "Jungle Fever" was about the social implications faced by an interracial couple, 1992's "Malcolm X" is self explanatory, then there's "Clockers" (1995) and "Bamboozled" (2000), the list goes on and on. Lee has been an active voice for African American issues in films for the last 20 years, he freely speaks his mind and his attitudes and beliefs are transferred to his films. He has crafted a unique style and reputation to the point where the film ceases to be just a film, it's 'A Spike Lee Joint'. It's an experience and Lee tries to fill it with as much social commentary as he can get away with. In recent times the subjects of his films have moved on from racial issues to 'New York' stories, stories that are told in the post 9/11 climate, "The 25th Hour" (2002) is a prime example of this, it's not a typical Lee film but his brand is all over it, he has matured as a storyteller over the years and perhaps age has calmed his 'power to the people' engine or perhaps he's said all that there needs to be said over the years and it's time to make something fun, which leads the gates open for something such as "Inside Man", written about as the most commercial of his films, and it's true this is more mainstream fair than what we've been used to from Lee but despite this it's still a very good bank heist film that is not only smart, it's well written, well acted and shot with a slick eye that Lee is also known for. "Inside Man" tells the story of three characters that are thrust together around the robbery of a high profile bank. Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington) is the cop caught on the outside trying to bring a peaceful end to a hostage situation, while clever bank robber Dalton (Clive Owen) is constantly one step ahead and amidst the confusion and chaos is in control as these two professionals play a cat-and-mouse game for control. It soon becomes evident that not everything is as it seems and the bank holds a secret that certain people would kill to keep that way. Enter our third person, power broker Madaline (Jodie Foster), whose job it is to safeguard that dangerous information. Lee has always been a filmmaker with something to say and this film certainly has its moments, such contemporary issues as the treatment of Arabs after 9/11 is one of the topics he chose to highlight the race related issue (another Lee staple) also makes an appearance in another scene, but this film is first and foremost a bank heist film and it rarely deviates. The tension is built around the heist and the true motivations of the people responsible, which becomes clear as the film progresses. The film hides its secrets cleverly until it's time to reveal them to the audience, this is supported by the word play these characters involve themselves in that not only adds another level to the film but is also just a pleasure to watch heavyweights such as Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer and Willem Dafoe tear up the screen. "Inside Man" is a refreshing change of pace for Lee and also makes for a good night on the couch, this film comes highly recommended.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this image is ported over from the previous HD DVD edition and comes in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and is mastered with VC-1 compression. This transfer looks little better upon comparison as the film is given more space to breath on this 50GB disc. The image is exceptionally sharp, however some of the film's more stylized scenes tend to look a bit softer, these flash-forward scenes are shot with a high contrast and thus tend to suffer a little in terms of detail and sharpness but this is totally aesthetic rather than a fault of the transfer. Colors look good and true to what the filmmakers were after, blacks are bold, skin tones also look natural, textures hold up and the image is clean from dirt, specks and other flaws. Universal have provided a technically good transfer with excellent depth.
Audio
There are six audio tracks present on this disc in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as DTS 5.1 tracks in French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio which is a significant improvement over the HD DVD's TrueHD track. This DTS-HD audio seems like it's more open with a wider depth and it's range is far more impressive. The film doesn't require anything aggressive, the film is more subtle in its soundtrack. The audio here focuses on the mood more than anything else and what we have is a track that displays that very well. Dialogue is crisp and clear, ambient sound is natural and adds to the overall immersiveness of the audio, the score adds further layers throughout the surround channels. It's an occasionally subtle but rich track that proves you don't have to be a showboat to provide excellent audio. Optional subtitles are included in English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese , Spanish and Swedish.
Extras
Universal have ported over all the extras from the DVD and HD DVD release here, this includes an audio commentary, a series of deleted scenes, two featurettes and BD-Live connectivity. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up we have a feature-length audio commentary by director Spike Lee. Lee is very much the "filmmaker's" filmmaker, he has an adventurous and electric quality when it comes to his films and that is loosely translated here in this track, he's quite toned down here and carries the track at a slow pace but still manages to remain engaging and informative. He shares his director's vision and process in setting scenes and shots up. He remains mainly screen-specific but deviates occasionally. He remains focused on mainly the techniques employed during the course of production, especially in regards to camera moves and framing. He currently tells us what his favorite shots are and doesn't go into too much specifics in regards to what it takes to actually achieve these shots. Although I was engaged for the entire duration I couldn't help but feel a little cheated considering he didn't expose any detail or allowed the viewer in getting into his mind set when making films. A series of 5 deleted scenes follow next and can be viewed individually or with the option of a 'play all' function. The scenes included are: - "Frazier Goes to Work" runs for 17 minutes 19 seconds. This is a series of extended scenes from the interrogation of the bank hostages. We also get some addition shots of Frazier over looking the photographs trying to work out who the inside man is. - "No Woman, No Cry" runs for 54 seconds. Frazier and Mitchell chat outside the bank about the meaning behind Bob Marley's lyrics. - "Darius Compliments Frazier" runs for 1 minutes 24 seconds. While inside the bank after the raid, Darius and Frazier chat while in the men's bathroom. - "News Reports" runs for 4 minutes 8 seconds. These are a series of unused news clips with reporters on the scene. - "Dalton Speaks of Case's Sins" runs for 51 seconds, this is an alternate scene where instead of speaking of Case's sins to Madeline White (like in the finished film) it's a voice over. "The Making-of Inside Man" is a production featurette which runs for 10 minutes 20 seconds. This centers around the script reading and includes interviews with the key player son the film. They discuss what attracted them to the project, the script, working with each other and includes some behind-the-scene footage taken during the production. This is basically an EPK clip but includes less of the superficial back-patting seen in most EPK's. "Number 4" is an interview featurette featuring director Spike Lee and actor Denzel Washington which runs for 10 minutes 8 seconds. The two talk about the previous films they made with each other leading up this film being their fourth collaboration. They also talk about films each of them have made that were significant milestones in their careers. This is easily the best extra on the disc, it's a shame that it's entirely too brief. Rounding out the extras is a Blu-ray exclusive extra by way of BD-Live enabled features, this requires a Ethernet connection and a profile 2.0 player allowing you to jump online to explore more features and downloads from the Universal portal.
Overall
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