@kayp97 What are the hard to ignore plot holes? I usually rate movies down quite a bit for those, so I was expecting to lower my rating from what I gave it near its release, but I didn't encounter any obvious ones.
Clive Owen could have worn gloves in his "cell" to avoid leaving DNA, but it's not like a human can poop in a hole without doing so.
Towards the end Denzel Washington's character is a bit overzealous in his pursuit of the Christopher Plummer character, perhaps?
– but those aren't what I'd call bad plot holes.
Review by KayP97BlockedParent2022-01-26T01:53:09Z— updated 2022-04-02T20:20:44Z
When Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) masterminds the perfect heist, detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is sent to negotiate a release of the hostages, all while a mysterious power broker Madeleine White (Jodie Foster) becomes involved at the request of the banks owner Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer).
I had a real good time with this one, but I do admit it could have been so much more. I'll start with the heist itself. The scenes inside the bank were easily the most enjoyable. This is mainly due to the fantastic Clive Owen. It was incredibly intense inside that bank and left you wondering what this is really about. I do have a lot of questions about the motives which is where a big problem of this movie lies. I loved Denzel's performance as the detective. Seeing him and Clive Owen go head to head to see who is the smarter of the two was a fun time.
The opening song in this movie "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from an Indian songwriter A. R. Rahman is simply amazing. I don't know what it is about the song, but it's so memorable for me, it's one of my favourite opening songs to a movie I can think of.
While I do like Jodie foster and Christopher Plummer, I think they are wonderful actors/actresses, their side of this story felt a little underwhelming and it slowed down the movie for me. It took away from what I thought was a really well thought out heist, despite some discrepancies that I am willing to look past. This and the use of the flash forward interviews is what stops it being a great movie for me. I am not sure what Spike Lee was trying to get across with those interviews and why he constructed the movie that way, but it tried to be more complex than it needed to be.
The big reveals this film was going for just missed the mark as they are just filled with some plot holes that are too hard to ignore. On a whole it was enjoyable and kept my attention throughout, but trying to be too complex lets it down slightly. 6/10.