Inside Man: Most Wanted

There's a scene towards the end of "The Producers" where Zero Mostel says: I was so careful... I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast... where did I go right?"

That's not the case here. Bad script, improbable plot, bad acting. Ameen appears to be trying to do a poor cross of Will Smith and Eddie Murphy.

The best part of the movie was not having to pay admission

Remember that inside man was first made on 2006, if you watch the first movie, you can see how similar it is to money heist, don't get me wrong I love money heist, but please do your research before you look like an idiot.

This remake is so bad, don't bother. Did no-one tell the main black actor he was not on a reality TV show. I just hope I never stumble upon him again! I gave it a 4 just because the cinematics were well done.

So, this movie is practically a top to bottom remake of a 2006 Denzel and Owen film of the same name, minus the "Most Wanted" bit. Bank robbers come in, seemingly trap themselves inside a no-escape situation, then pull off some ingenious plan that's only revealed to the audience in the last act. Along the way you're meant to empathize with at least some of the robbers so that you're rooting for them to get away, and so is the main police/FBI character because he's dealing with completely unsympathetic bureaucrats and powerful one percenters that he/she hates and so does the audience.

The problem, apart from the fact that this has already been done in a better version, is that because they reveal the connection to the previous film right in the opening scenes (and the title), you already know what's going to happen by the end. They don't change anything significant, really. I watched the movie with a friend, and by the half way point when they revealed a key plot element we both guessed the twist and how it was going to happen. And, apart from a couple of minor details, we were spot on. Which means, as far as I'm concerned, that actual law enforcement types who do this for a living would have seen some element of this coming from a mile away.

The whole thrill of a movie like this is that turn. To work, it has to be subtly hinted at in ways that you overlook early on but can look back at later, and it has to come as a surprise. It's very much like a magic act. If they hide too many details it feels like they're cheating, and if they don't surprise you with the reveal you lose that sense of wonder, which is the whole point of the movie.

Anyway, despite the underwhelming finale, the main characters were reasonably charismatic and entertaining to watch. And it's on Netflix, so if you have the streaming service you don't have to pay anything extra to see it. So I suppose if you find yourself needing to kill an hour or two it's a reasonably inoffensive way to while away the time, provided you've got nothing else better to do.

Directing by M.J. Bassett was decent, but the writing by novice Brian Brightly was terrible. The 106 run time felt longer - even with the decent pacing, due to many plot and technical issues. The score sounded out of place and too obvious in some scenes. Casting overall was ok, with the exception of Aml Ameen, who was trying way too hard and failing, to the point of annoying. It's a very disappointing sequel to the first film that was directed by Spike Lee and written by "amateur" Russell Gewirtz, and starred Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. This felt more like a B-grade production that went over budget. Sadly, it's a very generous 5/10 from me.