Plot When well-organised robbers, led by the highly intelligent Dalton Russell (Owen), take hostages in a Manhattan bank, NYPD detectives Frazier (Washington) and Mitchell (Ejiofor) are assigned. It’s not long before the bank’s owner (Plummer) surfaces with ruthless playmaker Madeliene White (Foster) to do his bidding.Verdict It’s certainly a Spike Lee film, but no Spike Lee Joint. Still, he’s delivered a pacy, vigorous and frequently masterful take on a well-worn genre. Thanks to some slick lens work and a cast on cracking form, Lee proves (perhaps above all to himself?) that playing it straight is not always a bad thing.