Spike Lee’s latest effort “Inside Man” shows the world that he can do it all. That is in case you already did not know that. The same person who brought us “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X” has now brought us an enjoyable summer-blockbuster-type classic-heist flick.

The film begins with Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) telling the camera that he is putting into action the perfect bank robbery. After telling us this, we flash back to Dalton and his crew dressed as painters coming into the bank. They barricade the doors and take all of the customers and bank employee’s hostage. At this point Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and his partner Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are called in as hostage negotiators. Contacting Dalton proves to be difficult, and once contacted he proves time and time again that he is one step ahead of the police force. This becomes clear to Frazier when Dalton makes clichéd unreasonable bank robber demands. To make their fear of his actions believable, Lee makes Dalton sinister and intimidating enough to make the audience think he will kill as many hostages as possible. And as Lee takes us from the bank robbery and flashes forward periodically to the questioning of the witnesses in the aftermath of the robbery we begin to see that there is more to this heist than meets the eye.

This is also the case with Lee who will not let the audience off without some social comment. After all Lee can’t give us a typical blockbuster movie. It seems through parts of this film as if has given up on preaching; but Lee can’t let us go for two hours without reminding us of our problems. There is an incident with a few police officers and a Sikh bank employee whom they of course call an Arab. There is an outspoken police officer who gets reprimanded for his racial slurs by Frazier. And a little boy who plays a video game inspired by 50 Cent that creates the funniest part of the movie. Lee may not be able to make the perfect heist film, but it is good to know that he still has his savagely funny edge.