BOTTOM LINE: The film may be one-sided, but is far more subtle and measured than a Michael Moore effort, and gives a frightening look in to what can be considered one of the biggest heist’s in history: the global financial crisis caused by Wall Street.

THE GOOD: A documentary like this has a clear agenda to offer an alternative to the narrative presented by the establishment. Michael Moore has become famous for producing such documentaries, but his work blatantly carries his heart on its sleeve and risks being seen as heavily opinionated and biased. “Inside Job” on the other hand is a far more calculated and measured experience by documentary maker Charles H. Ferguson. It systematically goes about making its point about how Wall Street hijacked most of the global economy to make one of the biggest heists in history. In many places, the film is chilling as it works through all the various points on how the government, urged by Wall Street, deregulated the financial system, and in turn, cut everything loose so nothing was off limits in terms of financial risk taking. It is disturbing how many of Wall Street’s goons infiltrated the US government to ensure that their interests were maintained. None of the actions of those named in the documentary and others were illegal, but they were very much immoral. The documentary goes to great lengths to pick up on this last point, and there is a stirring anger in the piece fermenting beneath its measured narrative. The documentary does a great job of providing simple explanations for the dubious complex financial products and transactions that Wall Street was engaging in, and also explaining how detrimental the effect was on its victims. The documentary features a number of interviews with high profile economists that help to add much credibility to the piece. Having Matt Damon narrate also helps proceedings, lending the documentary a familiar and warm presence. The widescreen photography is beautiful to look at, and quite a surprise given it is a documentary. “Inside Job” is a riveting piece of work. One-sided or not, it highlights the extent to which Wall Street took the global economy to the cleaners, and how all of us should be extremely angry about what took place, and is continuing to take place when you consider that no one has been formally charged with any crimes resulting from this crisis.

THE BAD: No documentary is truly un-biased, and this one is no exception. Its makers have a clear agenda in painting a nasty picture of what occurred during the global financial crisis. Most of it is warranted, which is shown in a few of the interviews where the subjects were clearly of the impression that the focus of the piece was different to what they were led to believe. Another issue is pace. The middle of the film tends to drag because it makes the same point from various different examples, to the point where it could have move on faster.