Although Inside Man has a fairly linear storyline, its central heist presents many twists and turns that demand a detailed explanation. Directed by Spike Lee, Inside Man has a contemporary Robin Hood-esque narrative where a virtuous robber, Dalton Russell, not only sets out to rob a bank but also teach a lesson to a wicked business mogul. Serving one red herring after another, the heist movie misguides viewers from the opening scene itself and gradually builds up to a satisfyingly clever coda.
From the characters' moral compasses to a war crime from World War II, everything in the Spike Lee movie is meticulously tied down to the central heist. Owing to this, understanding Dalton's intention behind the heist and his modus operandi is essential for comprehending the multiple layers in Inside Man's narrative. Hence, here's a detailed breakdown of the Inside Man movie heist and how it weaves into other elements of the film's storyline.
Why Inside Man's Dalton Didn't Steal Money From The Bank
When Dalton and his team break into the bank in Inside Man's opening scenes, it is hard not to assume that they intend to rob money from the bank. The fact that they keep affirming how they are there to wipe the bank's money clean confirms that they want nothing more. However, the bank robbery plot thickens when Madeleine White shows up and reveals that the bank's founder, Arthur Case, hired her as a fixer to convince Dalton to hand them the contents of a safe deposit box in the bank.
Dalton seems well aware of the history behind the safety box's contents and its immense value to Arthur Case. Therefore, he refuses to negotiate with White, even though she assures him that she can get his prison sentence reduced and even arrange a few million dollars for him once his sentence is over. Little does she realize that Dalton knows something about the safety box's secrets that she does not, and his reasons for stealing them are far more virtuous than they initially seem.
Inside Man's Safe Deposit Box 392 Explained
During his interaction with Madeleine, Dalton hints that safety box 392 contains documents from Nazi Germany that reveal how Case started the bank with money funded by the Nazis. He does not specify the services Case provided to the Nazis, but claims that the money was given to him as a reward for committing fatal crimes against Jewish people during World War II. Towards the finale arc of the Inside Man movie, Detective Frazier struggles to find viable evidence against the robbers since all of them, except for Dalton, exit the bank with the hostages. To ensure they are indistinguishable from the hostages, the robbers even wear the same identical clothing that they had previously asked the hostages to wear.
Since none of them possess any valuables or the safe deposit 392 documents from the bank, Detective Frazier (played by Denzel Washington of The Equalizer fame) fails to find any evidence to convict them. However, the detective sets out to research the bank's records when his superiors make him suspicious by asking him to drop the investigation. His research makes him realize that safe deposit box 392 never appears in the bank's previous records, which helps him get a search warrant to open it. To learn more about the box, Frazier then threatens Madeleine by playing her a recording of her interaction with Dalton at the bank.
With this, Madeleine surrenders and discloses that the box had records of Case's criminal past. Soon after, when she confronts Case, he reveals that the envelope in box 392 also had diamonds and a Cartier ring belonging to a Parisian banker's wife, who was from a wealthy Jewish family. He was friends with the banker, but ratted him out during the Holocaust for a hefty payday from the Nazis. As a result, the banker and his family's belongings, including the ring, were confiscated, and they were sent to concentration camps, where none of them survived. While Case never reveals why he kept the ring in deposit box 392, his guilt seemingly held him back from destroying it.
Dalton's Escape Plan In Inside Man's Heist Explained
In the opening scene, Dalton sits in a dimly lit cell and gives a monologue in which he quotes, "There is a vast difference between being stuck in a tiny cell and being in prison." His words in the prologue make sense towards the end of Inside Man when he emerges from behind a wall at the bank's supply room. A flashback reveals that his team had created a tiny cell in the bank's supply room by setting up a fake wall behind a rack. After the heist, Dalton hid in the secret room with the contents of deposit box 392 and waited for the dust to settle.
As he makes his way out of the bank after spending a week in his hidden room, he carries the diamonds and the documents from the deposit box in a bag. He even bumps into Detective Frazier on his way out but avoids raising any suspicion. Moments later, when the detective opens the safe deposit box, he finds a packet of chewing gums, the Cartier ring, and a note that says, "Follow the ring." While Dalton holds on to the documents to assert his control over Case, Detective Frazier sets out to confront the bank owner about the heist.
How Detective Keith Figures Out Dalton's Heist Plan In Inside Man
The ring becomes the final nail in Case's coffin as, upon tracing its origins, Detective Keith Frazier learns about his war crimes and decides to expose them to the world. When the detective goes home later, he finds a diamond in his pocket, which makes him realize that Dalton planted it there when he bumped into him at the bank's entrance. With this, he realizes that Dalton had been hiding inside the bank all that while, and gains more respect for him for being an honorable thief. In the end, Dalton's Inside Man heist plan makes him and Frazier rich while plummeting Case's net worth, which proves that Dalton was right on the money when he said, "Respect is the ultimate currency."