Inside Man: Most Wanted (2019)
(On Cable TV, May 2021) Considering that I consider Inside Man to be one of the best Manhattan-based thrillers ever made, you can imagine that my reaction to a low-budget no-name sequel would be somewhere between offence and interest: Inside Man is a film that does not need a sequel, yet I would be intrigued to see another movie playing along the same lines. Alas, Inside Man: Most Wanted is not the sequel to Inside Man that was discussed on-and-off since it came out — it’s a watered-down direct-to-streaming effort with thin replacements for (more or less) the same characters, with dubious needlessly convoluted plotting. Still, I liked it more than I expected. Let me explain: It doesn’t start all that badly. Robbers invade a bank, take hostages, the police get involved and the negotiators are called in. So far so good. Perhaps even better than good considering that Aml Ameen seems to be channelling Will Smith both in demeanour and appearance, bringing some energy to a film that seems to be dealing with calm and collected characters. M. J. Bassett’s direction can be nervy at times, and there’s a big sequence two thirds of the way through that has characters dealing with a flooded bank vault, which is a bit more visually interesting than what you see in those kinds of films. But even with the best of intentions, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Inside Man: Most Wanted is a mere copy of the first, with weaker versions of the characters, a plot that could have used some streamlining (by the time everything is explained, we barely care), and a director who can’t possibly be asked to do better than Spike Lee at his crowd-pleasing best. The climax is weak, and the incoherencies are so numerous that even a casual viewer is bound to notice them. Inside Man: Most Wanted is still a bit better than many, many direct-to-video thrillers that riff from better-known films… but I would have had a better time rewatching the first one.