Inside Man: Most Wanted Ending Explained: What Happens To Ariella?

Out of the several successful collaborations between Spike Lee and Denzel Washington, heist thriller Inside Man, released back in 2006, was probably not the best, but it surely was entertaining in the way the narrative amalgamated the heist motif with historical context. The movie was supposed to get a sequel treatment in later years, plans for which fell off with the departure of the original cast and director from the project. However, a continuation still happened in the form of Inside Man: Most Wanted, with director M. J. Bassett helmed the project and an entirely new cast starring in lead roles. Unlike its predecessor, the sequel lacked any narrative depth as it tried to ape the original entry beat by beat, and a forgettable bunch of characters coupled with a predictable plot leaves a bad aftertaste.

Spoilers Ahead

Who Was the Leader of the Recent Heist?

Inside Man: Most Wanted opens in 1945, in an unspecified corner of Europe, as a troop of Allied Forces takes over a Nazi encampment following a violent gunfight. The troop gets possession of Nazi gold worth several hundred million stored in wooden crates—all part of the loot Nazis accumulated by subjugating their victims. The scene shifts to present day New York City, five years after the events of Inside Man, which saw NYPD Detective/negotiator Keith Frazier trying to stop heist mastermind Dalton Russell but ending up exposing Nazi sympathizer Arthur Case with Dalton’s help. Following the incident, Frazier received lofty status as a master negotiator, and Case was put under house arrest for hiding Nazi diamonds. At present, a heist crew led by a mysterious woman whose MO perfectly matches that of Dalton Russell takes over the Federal Reserve and, locating the stash of looted Nazi gold, begins making arrangements to melt it to smuggle it easily. 

Brynn Stewart, an expert negotiator and an FBI agent who is trying her best to navigate through the male-dominated field of work, gets summoned to apprehend the situation, and she is paired up with the NYPD’s charismatic negotiator Remy Darbonne. Brynn is quick to deduce that the heist leader’s MO matches with that of Dalton Russell, aka David Barash, who was identified long after the Nazi Diamond heist with the help of one of his accomplices. As Remy begins communication with the leader—who introduces herself as codename Most Wanted and tries to win her trust—it becomes clear that she is aware of both his and Brynn’s history; she knows that both of them have strong moral compasses and will not jeopardize hostage lives at any cost. Brynn tries to find a clue from the old Nazi diamond heist case, especially because the current heist crew appears to be of German origin. Brynn’s assistant, FBI trainee Ansh, finds out that Arthur Case passed away while remaining in house arrest, while his son Dietrich Case, a banker and a chief member of a Neo-Nazi group in Berlin, is associated with several criminal organizations. Brynn considers the strong possibility that Dietrich is trying to get ahold of his father’s blood money and has sent the heist crew to do his dirty work. In the meantime, Joseph, a member of the heist crew and Dietrich’s thug, continues to create problems by killing other crew members whom he suspects to be stealing the gold of ‘Fatherland.’ As negotiations continue, Brynn decides to enter the Federal Reserve to check up on the hostages, and Most Wanted allows it—as she has her own agenda to fulfil which she needs Brynn’s assistance. As Brynn too is taken as a hostage, Remy blames himself for allowing her predicament. 

It is revealed that the real identity of the leader of the present heist, aka Most Wanted, is Ariella Barash, sister of David Barash, and she helped her brother to orchestrate the Nazi diamond heist all those years ago. Their grandfather is revealed to have fought and perished during the Second World War, and both of the Barash siblings had some degree of military training—which becomes clear to Brynn after seeing Ariella’s pragmatic, tactical approach to things. After Arthur Case passed away, his son Dietrich tracked down the Barash siblings and forced Ariella to orchestrate a similar heist to obtain the Nazi gold as a form of payback for their past actions of exposing his crooked father. Ariella reveals her face to Brynn as she chooses to trust her after the FBI negotiator mentioned Dietrich Case being involved in the heist and informs her to arrange a deal with him, details of which become clear much later. From CCTV footage, Ansh is able to deduce Ariella’s true identity and her familial connection with David Barash, which he reveals to Remy. 

How Did Ariella Escape From the Federal Reserve?

In the meantime, a woman named Ava, who reveals herself to be a former partner of one of the members of the heist crew, meets with Remy and reveals her abusive boyfriend had planned with Ariella to locate and dig up a closed-off exit route through the basement of the Federal Reserve, which will allow them to move through beneath the Hudson River. All of a sudden, the situation suddenly escalates when two of the SWAT forces manage to sneak inside the building but end up getting caught and knocked down by Joseph, who takes great pleasure in shooting them before throwing them out of the building, much to Remy’s dismay. However, while conversing with Ariella, Remy realizes that she is being forced to conduct the heist, and her moral compass is not compromised, unlike the crew she is handling. Joseph, in the meantime, tries to make perverted suggestions towards a captive Brynn, making viewers really eager to see the character suffer a horrendous death. Ariella briefly speaks with Brynn, dropping hints about her familial connection and the predicament of her brother throughout. Learning about Joseph’s lecherous attempts towards Brynn, Ariella keeps him locked inside a cell in the reserve. Remy gets to learn about the Nazi gold loot of Heinrich Himmler, which the crew wants to obtain.

Later, Ariella sets charges around the hidden exit route her crew has managed to dig up, but as it explodes, it appears a severe miscalculation has been made on her part, as water from the Hudson River breaches through and floods the basement of the Federal Reserve. Hostages are rescued in time as chaos breaks out. Remy manages to rescue Brynn from drowning to death, and as Joseph continues to be a nuisance, Brynn stabs him, letting him drown to death inside the flooded basement. While Remy and Brynn assume that Ariella has met her end due to a gross misjudgment regarding the escape plan, in reality, Ariella had set everything up perfectly to befool the authorities. Ava turns out to be her and David’s sister, who fed false intel to Remy. Ariella manages to escape the flooding of the reserve by taking refuge in roof vents and changes into the uniform of a salvage crew to evade detection. The Nazi gold was shaped into broken cell railings and given the appearance of brass, which allowed Ariella to smuggle them as rubble in the aftermath of the flooding incident. Following clues left by Ariella, Remy finds evidence of Nazi gold being stored in the reserve, as she has left one single gold bar with Nazi insignia in vault 392, the same vault number where the Nazi diamond was stored in the Manhattan bank in Inside Man. Remy also learns that Ariella, Ava, and David are siblings from a book that Ariella had left for him with a photograph put inside. 

What Happened To Ariella At The End?

In Inside Man: Most Wanted’s ending, Ariella had entrusted Brynn to make the exchange with Dietrich and had left the converted gold at the rendezvous location where Brynn met with Dietrich. It is assumed that Ariella wanted Brynn to ensure that David survives, even in the worst-case scenario that Ariella herself isn’t able to make it in the end. In reality, she wanted Brynn to nab Dietrich for good. Getting the Nazi gold in his possession, following the deal he made with Ariella, Dietrich orders his henchman in Berlin to free David, and Brynn reveals she had Dietrich set up as the FBI and NYPD surround Dietrich and his crew. However, the racist scum shows his true colors by revealing that he too didn’t respect the deal and had ordered his men to kill David. Brynn meets with Remy and laments the Barash siblings meeting a tragic end, but Remy’s gut feelings tell him that Ariella has survived, and she will avenge her brother’s death. 

Inside Man: Most Wanted’s mid-credits scene revealed that Ariella is visiting the club in Berlin where her brother was held captive, and from the noises of a gunfight, it appears Remy’s prediction came true after all. It goes beyond saying that her path of vengeance will result in her making new enemies, and possibly even a captive Dietrich will not be spared in the long run. This was already an unnecessary sequel, at least according to my assessment, but if the makers decide to produce further continuation, that will possibly follow Ariella’s revenge arc along with the mainstay heist motif. 

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