Inside Man

So, the crazy thing is, I am on a Denzel Washington movie binge and I seen that Inside Man was next on my list. So, I pressed the voice button on my fire stick, remote, and say the name of the movie and a picture of Denzel pops up and I pressed play. About halfway into the movie. I realize I have not seen Denzel and he's not the kind of guy who would come up in the latter part of a movie lol. Slightly annoyed but intrigued I ended up watching the rest of this movie because it was actually good. Very interesting story and very crazy especially since it's true. The cast did a great job. I actually found myself pretty nervous for the main character most of the movie.

Inside Man starts decent enough with Emile Hirsch playing a cop with anger managment problems who convinces his captain to let him go undercover to infiltrate the mob.

The film attempts to copy Scorcese's style with Emile Hirsch narrating over slow motion montages scored with guitar / rock music. There is harsh realistic violence, scenes of hits, people being tortured, cut to pieces and being disposed in garbage bags. There are a few tense scenes.

However the film is less than the sum of its parts. It fails to connect. Where Goodfellas or Casino pulled you in, made everything feel grandiose and meaningful, the plot here amounts to very little, and Emile Hirsch's protagonist is neither interesting or engaging. His acting is a mixed back here. Great in some scenes, deer in the headlight in others. There's no way experienced mobsters wouldn't have sniffed him out as he was flinching and staring in utter horror during the killings.

The mobsters themselves are sadly forgettable. There's no colorful characters here portrayed by veteran actors like Pesci or DeNiro.

Inside man isn't unwatchable, I was just bored by it.

The director here seems to have no idea how to tell this story. The way some scenes come across seem so obviously wrong, as if the story, the director and the actors are not entirely on the same page. They haven't thought the film through well enough. This easily could've been at least a decent film with these actors and the crime story. However the film leaves us mostly just stunned in disbelief as to how badly this story is conveyed to us at certain times. The writing is also quite weak in some areas, and much of it just seems regurgitated from other classic crime films, (Which could still be reasonably good if done well.). At the very start of the film, it actually does seem fairly good, until you start to see all the problems I've previously mentioned here. At that point, it just starts to become ridiculous.

2.5/10.

Criminal thriller, based on real events in which Emilie Hirsch plays Bobby Belucci, a violent police detective dismissed from his position after attacking his wife's lover. After beating her lover to a pulp, she leaves him and Bobby gets demoted at work, triggering his determination to prove he's worthy of redemption. Inside Man (2023) follows disgraced New York Police Detective Belucci (Emilie Hirsch) as his life falls apart when he discovers his wife (Ashley Greene) is having an affair. Now, Bobby is looking for a second chance to regain everyone's respect. To do this, he decides to go incognito into a group of dangerous mafia members, but this results in an operation in which he will soon lose control of his actions. Bobby will stop at nothing to get close to the head of the crew, Roy DeMeo (Danny Abeckaser), to expose the murder and corruption. His plan is to go undercover as a grunt and infiltrate the Gambino crime family's notorious "DeMeo Crew," a violent and bloody faction that reigned terror in the 1960s and '70s. The gangsters join at 'The Gemini Lounge', the bar the film is centred. The price for absolution may be higher than he can afford !.

The film portrays the brutality and impunity in which the DeMeo gang, led by Roy DeMeo, acted, a criminal group laced with Gambino family that led crime in New York, committing around 200 murders between the 1970s and 1980s . Mobster movie contains top-notch performances , pretentious familiar drama , thrills , fast-paced , action , being richly narrated and including an emotive final, although also packs strong scenes , violence and profanities. The picture develops itself in the wake of classics as ¨Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco¨ and ¨Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas¨, taking parts here and there. Fresh and intelligent screenplay by Kosta Kondilopoulos, based on real N. Y. C's Italian Mafia families , including interesting characterizations taken from real mobsters. Emile Hirsch gives an acceptable acting as a disgraced police detective seeking redemption by going undercover to expose a violent crime syndicate, but he sinks deeper into the mob and more bodies drop. He falls in love for the Gemini Lounge's waiter played by Lucy Hales, but there's an underutilization of Lucy Hale's role and the absence of meaningful interactions between them. The film's cast is completed Jake Cannavale, Ashley Greene, and brief acting of Robert Davi as mobster chief Anthony 'Nino' Gaggi and even the film's director Danny A. Abeckaser who plays a main role, mobster Roy DeMeo.

'Inside Man' was originally titled 'The Gemini Lounge' and some countries still retain this name, it was professionally directed by Danny A. Abeckaser, though usually lacks nuance and relies heavily on visual cues to depict emotions and plot points. He's known for his roles in Zohan: (2008), First We Take Brooklyn (2018) and The Iceman (2012). And he's directed a few films, such as: ¨The Engineer¨, ¨Mob town¨, ¨First We Take Brooklyn¨, ¨Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story¨. Rating: 5.5/10. Passable but not notable.

Well what a pleasant surprise to find an outright excellent crime movie based loosely on a team of horrendous mass murdering serial killers who contracted to (and were part of) the mafia decades ago.

I don't understand the average reviews here unless of course they simply skimmed it or weren't aware of the backstory. To call this a cliche is ridiculous - these events really happened (except for the disgruntled cop) and last I looked, life, reality, is not a cliche.

I've been a member of IMDB for 8 years but only done a handfull of reviews, I'm pretty lazy & otherwise busy so only pop out when the occasion really demands - like here.

The standard of acting here is sky high. Emile is great, but watch the De Meo character, Lucy Hale in a few scenes which she steals as the ice cold killers' moll, James Russo as the stone killer elder mobster and especially the Senter character. A nest of serial killer vipers ably portrayed and I had the greatest pleasure in watching this movie. Real life is never a cliche...