Number 192 Sneakers (1992)

Sneakers is number 192 of our top 200 movie list.  It is directed by Phil Alden Robinson and stars Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, David Strathaim, and River Phoenix. It is rated PG 13.

Karen’s Review

Sneakers is a 1992 tech thriller that stars a well known cast of characters, the main character Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) along with his crew of misfits, Sidney Poitier, Dan Ackroyd, David Strathairn and River Phoenix.  The guys all have some sort of criminal-esque blemish on their past, but they work together now to help banks, high profile businesses and even the government secure their systems.  The crew is basically hired to ‘break into’ the client’s facility in order to find out their weaknesses and make them more secure for the future.

The group is hired by the government to steal a black box from its mathematician inventor because it is a code breaking machine and could potentially be very dangerous in the wrong hands.  They further persuade Bishop to take the case saying that they will erase his criminal past if he succeeds in his mission.

The crew carries out the theft with ‘mission impossible’ style but shortly after turning in the device to the government officials, the mathematician they stole it from turns up dead!  They immediately start to realize that there is more to this device and scheme than first met the eye. Robert Redford’s old rival Cosmo, played by Ben Kingsley, turns up out of nowhere and adds even more spin to the already dizzying plot.

This movie is fast paced and interwoven with enough comic relief to make it interesting on multiple levels.  I especially liked the interplay between the crew of five guys; I really believed that they were long time friends who truly enjoy working together.

I have to admit that it took more than one viewing for me to finish off this movie, it was a late night and our couch was just so comfortable… but I would say that it is worthy of watching.  I give sneakers three out of five shells.

Kenny’s Review

Sneakers is a wonderful film that most people that I have talked to do not even know exists.  It is a story about a man named Martin Bishop, who is played by Robert Redford, the leader of a group of computer experts that specialize in testing security systems.  When some government agents come to talk to Bishop about his past he is black mailed into recovering a computer chip that can decode all of the United States encryption systems.  Bishop and his team quickly find themselves way over their head and have hard time trying to find people they can trust.

This movie was filmed in 1992 and like Sandra Bullock’s The Net really gives a nice snapshot of what people thought the internet was going to be like.  What makes this movie watchable is the fact that it deals with serious issues and action sequences with slight humor that makes it very realistic.  The main characters of Bishop’s team all have character flaws but when teamed together they play off each other very nicely.  Redford is wonderful at playing the reluctant hero who is dealing with middle aged loneliness.  Dan Aykroyd is the perfect person to play a character that is quirky and rubs Sidney Poitier’s straight laced ex-CIA character.  The way that Aykroyd and Poitier interact on screen brings life and laughs to a movie that is thrilling and serious.  However, the person that steals each scene is David Strathaim who plays a highly capable blind man who finds himself one moment figuring out what is most complex and then at other times adding comic relief.

The movie Sneakers is one of the rare movies that are able to successfully combine comedy, romance, adventure, and suspense all in one package.   I think the reason that most modern movie goers would take a pass on this movie even though they should not is because it requires people to think and the violence is at a minimum.  It is a wonderful thriller flick that is first class entertainment.  I give the movie four shells out of five.