7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem DafoeCrime | 100% |
Thriller | 73% |
Heist | 35% |
Drama | 16% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
Japanese: DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Spike Lee is widely considered the most talented and
relevant African American director, but many of his films
lack focus. More than ten years lapsed between two of
his most cohesive movies, Clockers and
Inside Man. Clockers was dropped in
Lee's lap by Martin Scorsese, who was too busy with Casino at the
time, and Inside Man was passed up by Ron
Howard, who instead opted to direct Cinderella Man.
Perhaps all of Lee's films should come to him already in
development by other filmmakers. In contrast to titles
Lee develops from the beginning, both Clockers
and Inside Man are relatively free of his overt
statements on race relations, allowing him to focus on
the crime/drama elements of each movie and to capture
the people and places of New York as only Spike Lee can.
With Inside Man II scheduled to hit theaters in
2010, there should not be another 10-year lapse before
the next quality "Spike Lee Joint", as he calls his films.
The sequel features the same impressive lineup as its
predecessor, with Denzel Washington as Detective Keith
Frazier and Clive Owen as Dalton Russell. Often, studios
wait to release a Blu-ray title until just before the sequel
hits the theater. But Universal, for whatever reason, is
making Inside Man available on Blu-ray this
year rather than wait until next. And with good reason. It
has the best production values of all of Lee's films,
making it the perfect candidate for 1080p and high
resolution sound. The audio and video are stellar, the
action is good and all the actors do a good job.
Denzel Washington turns in a powerhouse performance as NYPD detective Keith Frazier.
The only thing holding back the video quality is the handheld camera that adds a hint of blurriness to many of the shots. True to form, Spike Lee usually has the camera moving, even when his subjects are still. He uses many cameras, lenses, angles, complex shots and postproduction effects--and edits the footage for a tremendous variety of visuals that always seem fresh and interesting. It's one of the hallmarks of his films that I've always appreciated. As for the transfer to 1080p, it is excellent. Blacks are inky and deep, although the contrast in the greys is not as refined as reference-level quality. The color vibrancy and definition are phenomenal. While characters' faces and fabrics are rendered with tremendous presence, my favorite subject is the city of New York itself. Watch the outdoor shots of the courthouse and the various views of city landmarks and skylines. Spike Lee has an affinity for the city that only a select few directors achieved before him--directors like Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen-- and has feel for citiscapes puts him in rarified territory. But whether the camera shows shots of people or a piece of Manhattan, the composition is always spot-on, with good detail and lifelike skin tones.
When you can hear individual stubble from Denzel Washington's chin rubbing against his collar
as he slowly shakes his head, there is no denying you are hearing not just an excellent
recording but lifelike audio. Voices, instruments, gunfire, vehicles--all is rendered with a
superior dedication to sound quality. It's a reference audio track all the way in DTS-HD Master
Audio. Crank the opening and closing credits featuring an awesome remix of "Chaiyya Chaiyya"
from the Bollywood movie Dil Se. Spike Lee's music guru, jazzman/trumpet player
Terence Blanchard, added an orchestral highlight as well as scratching by DJ Premier to
enhance the song written by A.R. Rahman, Gulzar, Panjabi MC and performed by Sukhwinder
Singh, Sapna Awasthi and Panjabi MC. Excellent use of the LFE channel is on display, maybe a
touch boomier than it needs to be, but
it's still taught and refined enough. For dialogue, the
clarity cuts like a razor. Highs are bright and extended,
carrying just enough bite. Midrange and midbass are
linear and fleshed out in contrast to many digital audio
soundtracks that have sucked-out mids. In short, it's
perfect.
Watch the scene where the police first arrive at the bank.
It's a cacophony of squealing tires,
screaming sirens, bellowing officers, gathering crowds. Nowhere do these sounds become
muddied or congested. Each voice, each engine, each tire is vividly rendered,
with good use of surrounds. Denzel's voice isn't just
recognizable. It has presence, with all the overtones as if
he was in the room. Owen disguises his voice with just a
touch of a Brooklyn accent, and his timbre is intriguing.
Foster has just a hint of lilt to her voice and, like the
others, she appears to be in the room. The aural illusion
is that strong. Imaging is excellent, and even the music
is mastered aggressively in surround. Rarely do we get a
5.1 track that makes such good use of the rear channels
and subwoofer. I attribute the dedication to excellent
audio engineering, as well as the fine compositions, to
Blanchard who I had the good fortune to see leading a
quartet at One Step Down, a small jazz club on the
outskirts of Georgetown, just as his career started to
take off with Lee.
The audio content is of reference quality.
I enjoyed all the bonus content on Inside Man.
There isn't much of it, but when it comes to
supplementary material, quality trumps quantity any day.
Unfortunately, A/V quality need not apply, as all the
featurettes are in NTSC.
Commentary with director Spike Lee--
As often as Lee has frustrated me in his career, it was
worth it to hear his thoughtful commentary on what I
consider to be his most cohesive production. From
anecdotes to technical details on the set, Lee really
comes through here. Hopefully the sequel due out next
year will be this good.
The Making of Inside Man--Further
production anecdotes and technical details are described
in this documentary featuring interviews with cast and
crew.
Number 4--Every director has his
"muse" or favorite actor that makes for the best
collaborations. Christopher Nolan has Christian Bale.
Martin Scorsese has Robert De Niro (or unfortunately
Leonardo DiCaprio in recent years)...and Spike Lee has
Denzel Washington. I have seen all their films together,
which range from the whimsical ode to jazz, Mo'
Better Blues to the disastrous Malcolm X. In
this excellent series of interview clips, the director and
actor discuss their creative collaborations from the past
up to Inside Man.
Rounding out the bonus material is more than 20
minutes of deleted scenes--pretty much all of which
deserves to be left on the cutting room floor.
It has been frustrating to remain Lee's fan over the years. His originality, talent and vision were evident early in his career, most notably in Do the Right Thing, which is itself scheduled for Blu-ray release on June 30. Not only are some of his scenes of questionable merit, often glorifying violence, vulgarity or playing on racial stereotypes, but some of his words and actions separate from his films also have let down his fans. Many of his projects were so insular that they devolved into a series of inside jokes and production missteps, such as She's Gotta Have It and Malcolm X--a huge disappointment about one of the most important figures of the civil rights movement. But with Inside Man, my faith as a Spike Lee fan is restored. He executes the most focused film of his career to perfection, inspiring Denzel to one of his best performances as well. But put aside for a moment the intriguing narrative and impressive acting of the film. The defined picture and DTS-HD MA track make this a no-brainer to add to your Blu-ray collection.
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