Analysis of characters in 'inside man'

Lewis Jordan

Inside Man Poster

Analysis of characters in 'inside man'

In class we watched a film called inside man. It is a crime thriller about a bank heist in New York that takes place over a 24 hour period. The three characters in the film that i want to analyse are: Detective Keith Frazier played by Denzil Washington, Dalton Russel the mastermind behind the heist played by Clive Owen and the banks founder Arthur Case played by Christopher Plummer. 

Detective Keith Frazier 

The first character I want to look in to is Detective Keith Frazier, in the film he is the NYPD's hostage negotiator and is given a big responsibility when his usual boss is not around. It is his job to instruct the police how to deal with the situation. His main goal in the film is to obviously save all the hostages and get the people responsible locked up. But he is also chasing a promotion at work so he is eager to keep his reputation. The extremely clever mastermind behind the heist gives Frazier a run for his money but eventually when they storm the bank he comes out on top. Although he is not the first character we are introduced to in the film, he is the main protagonist

and a character that the audience quickly warm to. 

Dalton Russel 

The next character is the mastermind Dalton Russel played by Clive Owen. This character is the very first person we are introduced to in the film but is in fact the antagonist. He is a very intelligent character but he is not a violent or evil person, we can see this because he carries fake guns and never really set out to do any harm to anyone. He is part of a group of bank robbers but is shown as the main man in their little criminal organisation. What Dalton really wanted from the bank was the contents of a safety deposit box which belonged to the owner of the bank, this is why he does not steal any money. Although looking like he had been caught at the end of the film he had a secret tunnel and room that he stayed in for a week after the heist. Dalton Russel never actually fails which is unusual for an antagonist in a crime film but that is what makes him such an interesting and engaging character.

Arthur Case

The third and final character is the owner of the bank Arthur Case played by Christopher Plummer. This is the kind of character you have a bad feeling about from the start of a film. Although he is the victim because his bank is being robbed, we learn he has secrets and that is the real reason behind the robbery. The robbers are after something in Arthur's safety deposit box which suggests to us that he is up to something dodgy. When it turns out his riches were made whilst helping out the Nazi party during world war two we understand why he wanting to keep this a secret, also we learn that the robbers are out to blackmail him. Obviously Arthur wants to protect his secrets which is his main goal in the film as well as protecting his business. We never really find out the fate of Arthur as Dalton Russel ends up escaping with his secrets.I suppose this leaves the audience wondering.