Inside Man

Inside Man

Character number 1: Detective Keith Frazier

This is arguably the film's protagonist (personally I think there's multiple protagonists). Played by Denzel Washington.

His main goal in the film is to marry his significant other and advance his career. Once the second character, which I'll get to in a minute, robs a bank, Detective Frazier is given his big break when he's put in charge of the negotiation. His sub goal is to now get all the hostages out alive and catch the bank robbers. His obstacles for his main goal include money and the struggle of climbing the economic ladder, while the obstacles of his sub goal are the bank robbers themselves. Towards the end of the film, the lead bank robber becomes the solution to his main obstacles by providing him with a diamond to fix the money and enough credit as the hero to advance in his career.

Character number 2: Dalton Russel

This is the film's second protagonist as he also gets what he wants and a lot of the narrative is also based around him. His goals are quite obscure throughout most of the film but by the end are revealed to be simply getting rich and exposing the bank owner for his past mistakes. Portrayed by Clive Owen.

The obstacles for his goal are simple. The police, detective Keith Frazier and the banks security. He manages to escape the bank with enough diamonds to give him all the money he needs and the documents to prove the bank owners evil deeds. At first he seems like the antagonist but as the story progresses we see he's not standing between Keith Frazier and his goal, and so he can't be the antagonist.

Character number 3: Madeleine Foster

This is the helper of both protagonists. She offers Dalton an alternate path to escaping the bank but he refuses and she also contributes to hindering the real antagonist of the film (at least for Dalton) the bank owner. Portrayed by Jodie Foster.

At first she seems to be helping him and in turn helps Keith Frazier to try and hinder Dalton but once she discovers the truth she quickly changes alliances. Her main goal is simply to do her job and make money. She managed to do her job and got paid for it. She also continues to help Frazier after her job is complete, boosting his career even more than Dalton.