Men on Film

Sneakers (with guest reviewer and contest winner Christine)

Release Date: 9/9/1992 – Rated PG-13

Starring: Robert Redford (The Natural), Dan Aykroyd (Spies Like Us)

Plot Summary: Martin, along with his team of former criminals, runs a business where his group breaks into a company’s location to find their security weaknesses and informs the company about them to make them safer.  Business is pretty slow, that is until a pair of National Security Administration agents come up with a business proposition for him.  In exchange for $175k, all Martin has to do is steal a code breaking machine from a nerdy mathematician; or he can choose not to do it and spend the rest of his life in the clink.  The guys from the NSA know that he was a computer hacker back in the day, and that his friend got caught, took all the blame and died in prison for it; they have no problem turning him in.  He has no options except to agree to their terms, and succeed in getting the box that contains the code breaking microchip. It’s there that Martin and his team get crossed and double-crossed as they try to keep this technology out of dangerous hands,

Alex’s Thoughts: I am ashamed to admit it, but this is the first time I’ve seen this flick, and I was not disappointed - thank you Christine.  With the exception of Ben Kingsley, I thought the acting was great all around; Redford, Poitier & River Phoenix did a terrific job.  I would have liked to see more from Dan Aykroyd’s crazy conspiracy theory guy, but his stories of mutilated cows, the Roswell landings our staged trip to the moon with have to do.   The story was pretty good, and there is nothing like a well made caper to keep me entertained.  If there is one satisfying thing I got from this movie, it was hearing James Earl Jones say the word ‘Winabago’.

Tim’s Thoughts: I am glad I wasn’t the only person disappointed in Ben Kingsley in this movie. Other than that it’s a fun semi-spy computer caper. Funny to be reminded of the fact that as recently as the early nineties computers seemed so simple, and man will River Phoenix be missed, he was so talented. Good call on the review, and I hope this gets a few people to go and check this out.

Christine’s Thoughts: I can start by saying that any movie which has the cast that this movie has is tops in my book. I love, love, love Mary McDonnell. I can remember the first time I watched this movie and honestly I wasn’t very interested, but then it slowly grew on me. Maybe it was my husbands doing, but I soon found myself watching it about once a month. I am a nerd at heart and any nerd or nerd wannabe cannot go wrong with a movie packed full of humor, espionage, computers galore and some sex-appeal. Don’t let this movie fool you, it really is entertaining

Final Thoughts: This was a ‘like’ all-around.  It’s a good old-fashioned caper movie, and even though it centers around technology from 19-years ago it manages to hold up really well thanks to a solid story line and great acting.

Alex Rates This Movie 8/10

Tim Rates This Movie 8/10

Christine Rates This Movie 9/10

“You know I could have been in the NSA, but they found out my parents were married.”

View the IMDB entry for this movie here or add it to your Netflix queue