Continuity mistake: As Dalton stands inside the bank vault staring at the cash, the scene jumps from a wide, distant shot, to medium, to close-in, just outside the cage. Another robber stands just outside and between jumps his gun position shifts from relaxed to raised to relaxed again.
Inside Man (2006)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Denzel Washington, Willem Dafoe, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen
The bank robbers, minus the head honcho Dalton (Clive Owen), blended in with the hostages so they could appear as hostages and then confuse the cops during the interrogations of the hostages after the bank robbery (for example: the bank robber Stevie with big breasts, the "hostage" who took his mask off and got dragged on the floor and the Armenian guy). The bank robbers placed a microphone inside the drawer thing with the message that was given to the police so they could hear what the police were saying. By listening to what the police were saying, they could prepare themselves moments before the police would enter the bank. When the police enter the bank, the robbers (minus Dalton) blend in with the hostages (because everyone is dressed the same) and exit the bank. Everyone who exits the bank is asked their name and has their picture taken; why? because since everyone is dressed the same, everyone's a suspect. The police search the bank and realize that: no money was stolen, the guns the robbers were using are fake and the execution they witnessed was fake. Now, here's the big surprise: the reason why the robbery took so long and no money was stolen is because Dalton and his colleagues were building a fake wall so that Dalton could hide behind it for a few days. What Dalton and his colleagues stole was the contents of the bank chairman's (Christopher Plummer) box: an important document that links him to the Nazis (he made a lot of money during WWII) and some diamonds. Dalton left a Cartier diamond ring in the box for Frazier (Denzel Washington) to find with a note that says "Follow the ring"; another reason why he left the ring in the box is out of respect for the previous owners of the ring, who died in a concentration camp. Frazier investigates on the ring and figures out that it's linked to the bank chairman. He talks with the chairman but gets no answers about what he had inside the box. After a few days, Dalton comes out of hiding behind the fake wall of the storage room and exits the bank. On his way out, he bumps into Frazier. Later that night, Frazier finds a little diamond in his pocket and realizes that the man he bumped into at the bank was the head of the bank robbers. Dalton slipped a diamond in Frazier's pocket because during their conversations, Frazier mentioned that he's "too broke to be engaged."
Alex
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Suggested correction: Whilst this is true, I don't think it is a continuity mistake. It looks to me like it is intended to suggest the passage of time between each of the three shots.
Keith Frazier: Sorry to interrupt you, Mister Mayor, but there's an old American saying: When there's blood on the streets, somebody's gotta go to jail.
More trivia for Inside Man
Question: Obviously I missed a major plot point, so hopefully someone can answer this. How does Dalton Russell know what Arthur Case has in the safety deposit box? Theoretically, only Case would know the highly incriminating contents of his own box. How did Russell find out? Did someone (the rabbi, maybe?) rat out Case? And how did he know?
Answer: There are groups who have spent their lives tracking down those Nazis and their allies that escaped justice after the war. While the specifics are never spelt out, it seems likely that the Rabbi represents one of these groups, who have presumably been watching Case for many years, trying to find incriminating evidence. They may well, for example, have infiltrated one of their people into the bank as an employee - they could have alerted them to the presence of the unlisted safety deposit box, leading the group, via Russell, to stage the 'robbery' to determine what was within.
Answer: I at first thought that the head theft is somehow related, may be the son or grandson of Case's mentioned a friend who was sold to Nazis.
Answer: The man who was "beaten up" for trying to hide his cell phone was a bank employee and an accomplice as he's shown to be a member of the team.
No, he was not revealed at the end to have been part of the team. There were five in total, including Chaim.
Answer: When the box with the bug was sent to the cops, Case came in and told on himself when asking to help out with the cops.
This answer is incorrect. The thieves already knew that the safety deposit box and its contents were in the bank, long before Case was in the police van talking to the cops.
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