The film stars Denzel Washington as Detective Keith Frazier, the NYPD's hostage negotiator, Clive Owen as Dalton Russell, the mastermind who orchestrates the heist, and Jodie Foster as Madeleine White, a Manhattan fixer who becomes involved at the request of the bank's founder Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) to keep something in his safe deposit box protected from the robbers.

In New York City, masked robbers, dressed in painter coveralls and using variants of the name "Steve" as aliases, seize control of a Manhattan bank, taking patrons and employees hostage.

Russell implies that Case started his bank with money he received for collaborating with the Nazis, resulting in many Jews dying during World War II.

Russell's opening monologue is revealed to have happened while he hid behind a fake wall the robbers had constructed inside the bank's supply room.

He emerges a week after the robbery with the contents of Case's safe deposit box, including incriminating documents and several bags of diamonds.

Appearing as Russell's accomplices are: Appearing as some of the more notable hostages are Ken Leung as Wing, who was distracted in the bank before the heist by the bosomy woman (played by Samantha Ivers) standing behind him and talking loudly on her phone; Gerry Vichi as Herman Gluck, an elderly hostage suffering chest pains who is quickly released by the robbers; Waris Ahluwalia as Vikram Walia, a Sikh bank clerk whose turban is removed by the cops, which is a religious sacrilege for a Sikh male; Peter Frechette as Peter Hammond, a bank employee whose attempt to hide his cell phone from Russell results in his getting beaten up; Amir Ali Said as Brian Robinson, an 8-year-old boy who speaks with both Russell and Frazier and who plays a violent video game; Ed Onipede Blunt as Ray Robinson, Brian's father; and Marcia Jean Kurtz as Miriam Douglas, an older woman who initially refuses to strip and is forced to do so by Stevie; Kurtz reprises her role as Miriam from Dog Day Afternoon (1975), in which she was depicted as a hostage.

[8][9] Imagine co-founder Ron Howard was attached to direct the film, but turned it down after being asked by Russell Crowe to helm Cinderella Man (2005).

After Howard stepped down, Menno Meyjes contributed to Gewirtz's screenplay, and Terry George incorporated the Nazi Germany and diamond ring elements to the script.

[5][7] Meyjes was in negotiations to direct the film, but after he declined, Grazer thought this project was a chance to work with Spike Lee,[4]: 3  who had already learned of Gewirtz's script.

Ultimately, Marcia Jean Kurtz and Lionel Pina were additionally cast to reprise their roles from Dog Day Afternoon in Easter egg cameo appearances.

[4]: 9  Washington, Ejiofor, Willem Dafoe and other actors met and worked with members of the New York City Police Department, who shared their experiences and stories involving civilians and hostage situations.

"[16] Telephone conversations between Russell and Frazier were shot using two cameras simultaneously filming the actors performing on two different sets of a soundstage at Steiner Studios.

[16] The film features a number of scenes which involve Detectives Frazier and Mitchell (Chiwitel Ejiofor) interrogating several hostages during the aftermath of the heist.

"[17] Post-production facility EFILM carried out the digital intermediate (DI), with Libatique overseeing the process and working with colorists Steve Bowen and Steve Scott: "It's difficult to match all of your shots meticulously when you have three cameras and one lighting setup, so I spent the majority of the DI just adhering to the original vision of the disparity in color temperature, which I can accentuate, versus the unified color temperature.

"[17] I just hope people understand that this is an absolute statement about my horror at how violent these games that young kids play are, and also the infatuation with violence and gangsta rap among the black community.

The film features a scene in which Russell (Owen) interacts with Brian Robinson (Amir Ali Said), an 8-year-old boy who is playing a violent video game titled Gangstas iz Genocide on his PlayStation Portable.

The scene is intercut with a 30-second animated sequence of the fictional game, in which a character performs a drive-by shooting, before killing an intended target with a hand grenade.

[19] Using the Grand Theft Auto franchise as a reference, Lee wanted the scene to serve as a social commentary on gangsta rap, violent crime among African Americans[19] and the rising level of killings in video games.

[3] Cinematographer Matthew Libatique enlisted his cousin, Eric Alba, and a team of graphic artists known as House of Pain to design the 30-second animated sequence.

Portions of the sequence were pre-visualized in 3D Studio Max, while stills were imported as texture maps and added to animated cut scenes created in 3D modeling package Maya.

[19] Upon Inside Man's theatrical release, he remarked that, "The sad thing is somebody is probably gonna make a game out of it and take that as inspiration.

[2] It grossed $88,513,495 in the United States and Canada, ranking as Lee's highest-grossing film, ahead of Malcolm X (1992), which had ended its North American release with over $48 million.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Spike Lee's energetic and clever bank-heist thriller is a smart genre film that is not only rewarding on its own terms, but manages to subvert its pulpy trappings with wit and skill – and Denzel Washington is terrific as a brilliant hostage negotiator.

[41] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote "Inside Man works because it takes a familiar setup—in this case, a Wall Street bank heist that mutates into a hostage crisis—and twists it ever so slightly.

A particularly solid screenplay helps here, as do stars who can actually act ... along with an excellent supporting cast and the best lineup of pusses and mugs outside The Sopranos.

"[42] The Wall Street Journal wrote "Our willingness to go along with the film's flaws is a tribute to its strengths, and to a cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Willem Dafoe, plus scores of character actors in small but striking roles.

"[44] Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe wrote, "The basic story is elemental, but because Lee and Gewirtz invest it with grit, comedy, and a ton of New York ethnic personality, it's fresh anyway.

"[45] David Ansen of Newsweek commented, "As unexpected as some of its plot twists is the fact that this unapologetic genre movie was directed by Spike Lee, who has never sold himself as Mr. Entertainment.

Spike Lee was in negotiations to reprise his directing duties[51] while serving as an executive producer alongside returning member Daniel M.

[52] The plot for the sequel was intended to continue after the events of the first film, with Dalton Russell (played by Clive Owen) masterminding another robbery, and again matching wits with NYPD hostage negotiator Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington).