"That's a nice-a donut."
Friday, April 08, 2005
Sneakers
Sneakers is a fairly enjoyable, but flawed, caper about computer hacking, spying, and shady government agents. It stars Robert Redford and a host of other stars including Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, River Phoenix, and even James Earl Jones, and was directed by Phil Alden Robinson of the Field of Dreams.
Redford's character has been in hiding from the law ever since an incident more than 20 years before. He now heads a company of "sneakers"; they are hired by companies to sneak in and steal stuff in order to test their security. That life comes crashing down one day when he is visited by a couple government agents who have a simple job for him. They are to steal a magical black box that has the power to control seemingly everything: power grids, banking systems, you name it. After doing this, and handing it over to the agents, the sneakers realize that nothing is what it seems. The agents seem to be the bad guys and Redford and his crew decide that they need to steal the black box back.
The film's plot is quite complex and oftentimes illogical. Also, a couple of the villains and the closing scenes are a bit over-the-top. Nevertheless, Sneakers is generally fun to watch. It felt like it was an inspiration for the glitzy Ocean's 11 remake starring Clooney and Co., and I was also reminded of Coppola's underappreciated masterpiece, The Conversation. The sneakers are all very sympathetic - though more character development for a couple of them would have been nice - and the action scenes and suspense are first-rate. This is a solid movie that I suspect may only improve with subsequent viewings.
The verdict: B.
Michael Bentley 7:08 AM
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