Sneakers [Blu-ray] [1992] [Region Free]

A review I once wrote for an online site:here is a simple formula for the plot of a caper movie. You introduce the gang, and it is always a gang, performing a caper for the first act, you spend the second act motivating the gang to do a much more serious caper, and in the third act you pull off the serious caper. Fade to black.Sneakers sticks to the formula religiously. The sub-plots are similarly formulaic, and for the whole film you can’t shake the feeling that you are watching a cover version of a film you’ve seen before.We can dispense with the plot in a few sentences. Robert Redford is a security expert who tests the security of companies by breaking into them. He’s blackmailed – via reference to a shady past- into breaking into a new place and stealing the MacGuffin. He has second thoughts and breaks into the blackmailer’s place and steals it back.But… the simple story is told beautifully, even unambitiously by director and writer Phil Alden Robinson (who also put together Field of Dreams) and what the script lacks in grandeur in makes up in lovely touches of characterisation. Personally, I’m inclined to think the star of the production must have been the casting director: to line up Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, and Ben Kingsley, and not only convince them to do the movie is one thing, to ensure that the personalities have chemistry and that each star is playing a role they can clearly revel in is quite another.What elevates the film from forgettable once-seen to enjoyable Sunday-afternoon movie is the excellent dialogue and the obvious chemistry of the team (any two of Redford, Aykroyd, McDowell, and Poitier riff beautifully together and this isn’t lost in the larger groups). The director sensibly gets out of the way of his cast and lets them work with a script that carefully treads between comedy and drama. The main crew are ably supported by Ben Kingsley in chilling, rather than hammy, villain mode and Stephen Tobolowsky, whose transformation from bumbling victim to chilling creep, is handled effectively in a short amount of screen time.There are imperfections in the film, notably the opening scene ignores the main cast in favour of establishing the said shady past, and James Earl Jones‘ one scene is fabulous, but insufficiently foregrounded. It also suffers a little from not really creating much in the way of a sense of peril, the viewer just presumes that Redford’s character is going to be charming at people until everything goes to plan. However, the overwhelming feeling is of a film of enjoyable triumph.sneakers2Some points deserve special mention: the dialogue, timing and delivery is sure-footed and solid, the set pieces, which are of course the mainstay of a caper plot, are nicely held together and the plot survives repeated watching. Two things stand out as exemplars that other film-makers should pay attention to: the quality of the technical dialogue and the enduring longevity of the film.First the technical details: viewers of film and TV are used to characters delivering a few lines of technical gobbledygook whenever the writer needs a technical reason to drive the plot. Invariably this gobbledygook causes groans from those who do pay attention to technology. One of the astonishing things about Sneakers is that the technical gobbledygook – while serving the classic dialogue purposes of making the character sound smart and also driving the plot – does make sense, and does provide reasonable justification for the actions taken in the movie.All of the security plot (the creation of the MacGuffin the team is to steal and the methods used to steal it) is reasonable, possible, and, amazingly the cast manage to say the right words in the right order and stress the right words in such a way that they genuinely convince sceptical technical nerds in the audience that they know what they are doing… (sadly this only extends to the dialogue and the actors, the visual effects department didn’t get the memo and so we are treated to some very dated visuals of ‘decryption’ happening in a very odd way). This is a film that is an example of how easy it is to get small details right when you take the time.Finally, this is linked to another point: the film has barely dated. Most characters are seen as scurfy and unfashionable so the hair and clothes haven’t dated, and the technical details -somewhat fortunately – describe problems that still exist. There are almost no scenes where you think, “Well he’d just sort that out with an iPhone these days” (although someone does use a car-phone at one point), and because the direction is so laissez faire there is no sense that the film is from another time, or trying to make a particular statement.

One of my favourite films of all-time and a great ensemble cast who obviously had a lot of fun making this movie.Robert Redford leads a team to steal a little black box, unaware of what it's for or who they are really working for. When they find out the answers to those questions, it's when the fun really begins.It's a comedy, it's a thriller, it's a heist movie, and there's a few twists thrown in as well.The blu-ray quality of this film is very good and the only downside is no extras, but then I didn't buy it for that.

I've always remembered Sneakers fondly. I remember watching it at the cinema, then buying it on VHS, LaserDisc, eventually DVD and even on HD-DVD! 😂 But I have no idea where they all went and why I didn't buy the Blu-ray version. Anyway. I saw came across it on Amazon Video for a reasonable £3.99 so had to buy it!I've been having an issue of late with older films I used to love. Their plots are super basic and pretty weak but I remember them being epic and complex so I've been somewhat disappointed. Although Sneakers plot really is a bit basic and follows standard story beats, it's playful nature and likeable characters pulled me straight back in!The older Robert Redford is always interesting to watch. He kind of down plays his importance even when he's the lead and gives everyone a crack at the whip. This cast is pretty fantastic for the time! Sidney Poitier is great as the sensible member of the team with River Phoenix as his younger foil. Dan Aykroyd as Mother is playing against type as a more introverted character obsessed with conspiracies. Mary McDonnell is perfectly cast as Redford's kind of but not really love interest who keeps all of the other characters on their toes! David Strathairn rounds out the main cast as the visually impaired Whistler who is the most competent of the crew. I can't include Ben Kingsley as a lead character because his role is so short and, in my opinion, the weakest performance.It's great to see the computer and hacking tech in it's infancy used in such a way as if it was as commonplace then as it is now!Overall it's a funny and quite charming film. Any new viewer might think it's a bit lame but for an older viewer it's a treat.Technical specs:The Amazon Video version was presented in it's correct theatrical aspect ratio, which isn't always the case. But it wasn't the uncut version. There is a swear word missing. Well, I didn't hear it anyway!It's presented correctly in 1080p. Not an upscaled version.Audio was solid. According to my amplifier it was outputting 5.1 audio through the TV app.Obviously the Blu-ray version will be better in both audio and video quality but it wasn't available for sale.Great Sunday afternoon viewing!

Really good 👍

Wish I'd seen this movie when it was first released.Still a great one to watch, and Robert Redford was one of the classic actors of the time.I say that, because I saw his very last film, 'An old man and a gun', as he informed 'us', and he still had the magic.It's a shame he retired, just like Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Robert Di Nero, Donald Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman, and many many others like him!

Great story line, great actors.

Very entertaining and a great story and very well acted by the whole cast

I have given this movie a 3 star rating mainly because I purchased this for a relative who is a 'Robert Redford' fan and she said that it is not his best movie and he is not the main star. It is o.k. and fairly enjoyable to watch, but nothing special. Thank you.