Robert Redford. Dan Aykroyd. Ben Kingsley. Sidney Poitier. James Earl Jones. River Phoenix. This is an impressive list of six names to be involved in a singular film. With so much talent, one would expect a film of proportions similar to the recent "The Departed" or a number of other high profile ensemble films. Unfortunately, "Sneakers" is a film that has flew under the radar for many filmgoers and has been ignored by many because the film isn´t necessarily anything special. "Sneakers" isn´t a bad way to spend two hours, but with its level of complexity and lack of any dramatic strength, "Sneakers" doesn´t excel to the heights it could have reached with its incredibly talented cast.
While watching "Sneakers," it was easy to remember the era when Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd and Sidney Poitier were commanding box office presences. It was easy to remember a time before River Phoenix succumbed on the sidewalk of the Viper Club. It was easy to remember when Ben Kingsley took good roles. When the final credits rolled for "Sneakers," it was apparent that the greatest strength of this film was the veteran actors that are no longer visible and as pertinent in today´s Hollywood climate. Redford´s role is similar in demeanor as his performances in "The Last Castle," "Spy Game" and a few others, Aykroyd is his odd and entertaining self and River Phoenix showed a lighthearted wit that the world would never see develop. Poitier is good, but dramatically underused and Kingsley´s performance was a caricature of his former self and perhaps his first step into the parody he has become with roles in films such as "BloodRayne," "Species" and "Thunderbirds."
The plot of "Sneakers" finds Robert Redford as Martin Bishop, a master hacker who leads a team of intelligence experts that includes former CIA man Donald Crease (Sidney Poitier), blind soundman Erwin ´Whistler´ Emory (David Strathairn), conspiracy theorist and electronics expert Mother (Dan Aykroyd) and a talented young understudy, Carl Arbegast (River Phoenix). They are confronted by two members of the National Security Administration and asked to collect a special black box from a mathematician and return it to their ownership. The NSA tells Bishop that they know his true identity and do not have the legal means or talent capable of pulling off the heist and hire Bishop and crew to perform the duties necessary to accomplish the task.
Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems and the NSA men are not working for the Federal Government and the black box is a super hacking device that is fully capable of breaking the most secure encryption available. The mathematician is murdered and Bishop is framed for the murder of two Russian dignitaries. With the FBI on their tail and precious little time to work with, Bishop and his team of super thieves must break into an impossible to crack room and steal the device from a villainous former friend of Martin Bishop, Cosmo (Ben Kingsley). Bishop enrolls the help of a former love, Liz (Mary McDonnell), to facilitate a base of operations and romance a person with the necessary security credentials to break into the ultra-secure building.
"Sneakers" is technology-based thriller that lacks the action of the familiarly-themed first "Mission Impossible" film. In fact, if you would take "Spy Game" and remove anything relating to Brad Pitt from that film and blend the remaining parts with "Mission Impossible," you might get something with the same consistency and flavor as "Sneakers." There are gadgets aplenty and the technical capabilities of the crew provide drama and an awe factor that should please all but the most hard-core computer enthusiasts. Aykroyd´s oddly named character Mother spews conspiracy theories and techno mumbo-jumbo that shouts "Nerd Hero" to the masses and is a far cry different from "Mission´s" Ving Rhames. With a similar amount of technology and a much smaller dose of heroics and explosive action, "Sneakers" is neither the thinking man´s techno-thriller nor an older audience´s preference over "Mission Impossible." The story is good, but the pedestrian pace and thematic move about as slow as Robert Redford´s stealthy moves to heist the film´s notorious answering machine. Mix in the laughable performance by Ben Kingsley and "Sneakers" just falls a few notches more.
While watching "Sneakers," it was easy to remember the era when Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd and Sidney Poitier were commanding box office presences. It was easy to remember a time before River Phoenix succumbed on the sidewalk of the Viper Club. It was easy to remember when Ben Kingsley took good roles. When the final credits rolled for "Sneakers," it was apparent that the greatest strength of this film was the veteran actors that are no longer visible and as pertinent in today´s Hollywood climate. Redford´s role is similar in demeanor as his performances in "The Last Castle," "Spy Game" and a few others, Aykroyd is his odd and entertaining self and River Phoenix showed a lighthearted wit that the world would never see develop. Poitier is good, but dramatically underused and Kingsley´s performance was a caricature of his former self and perhaps his first step into the parody he has become with roles in films such as "BloodRayne," "Species" and "Thunderbirds."
The plot of "Sneakers" finds Robert Redford as Martin Bishop, a master hacker who leads a team of intelligence experts that includes former CIA man Donald Crease (Sidney Poitier), blind soundman Erwin ´Whistler´ Emory (David Strathairn), conspiracy theorist and electronics expert Mother (Dan Aykroyd) and a talented young understudy, Carl Arbegast (River Phoenix). They are confronted by two members of the National Security Administration and asked to collect a special black box from a mathematician and return it to their ownership. The NSA tells Bishop that they know his true identity and do not have the legal means or talent capable of pulling off the heist and hire Bishop and crew to perform the duties necessary to accomplish the task.
Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems and the NSA men are not working for the Federal Government and the black box is a super hacking device that is fully capable of breaking the most secure encryption available. The mathematician is murdered and Bishop is framed for the murder of two Russian dignitaries. With the FBI on their tail and precious little time to work with, Bishop and his team of super thieves must break into an impossible to crack room and steal the device from a villainous former friend of Martin Bishop, Cosmo (Ben Kingsley). Bishop enrolls the help of a former love, Liz (Mary McDonnell), to facilitate a base of operations and romance a person with the necessary security credentials to break into the ultra-secure building.
"Sneakers" is technology-based thriller that lacks the action of the familiarly-themed first "Mission Impossible" film. In fact, if you would take "Spy Game" and remove anything relating to Brad Pitt from that film and blend the remaining parts with "Mission Impossible," you might get something with the same consistency and flavor as "Sneakers." There are gadgets aplenty and the technical capabilities of the crew provide drama and an awe factor that should please all but the most hard-core computer enthusiasts. Aykroyd´s oddly named character Mother spews conspiracy theories and techno mumbo-jumbo that shouts "Nerd Hero" to the masses and is a far cry different from "Mission´s" Ving Rhames. With a similar amount of technology and a much smaller dose of heroics and explosive action, "Sneakers" is neither the thinking man´s techno-thriller nor an older audience´s preference over "Mission Impossible." The story is good, but the pedestrian pace and thematic move about as slow as Robert Redford´s stealthy moves to heist the film´s notorious answering machine. Mix in the laughable performance by Ben Kingsley and "Sneakers" just falls a few notches more.
Robert Redford. Dan Aykroyd. Ben Kingsley. Sidney Poitier. James Earl Jones. River Phoenix. This is an impressive list of six names to be involved in a singular film. With so much talent, one would expect a film of proportions similar to the recent "The Departed" or a number of other high profile ensemble films. Unfortunately, "Sneakers" is a film that has flew under the radar for many filmgoers and has been ignored by many because the film isn´t necessarily anything special. "Sneakers" isn´t a bad way to spend two hours, but with its level of complexity and lack of any dramatic strength, "Sneakers" doesn´t excel to the heights it could have reached with its incredibly talented cast.
While watching "Sneakers," it was easy to remember the era when Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd and Sidney Poitier were commanding box office presences. It was easy to remember a time before River Phoenix succumbed on the sidewalk of the Viper Club. It was easy to remember when Ben Kingsley took good roles. When the final credits rolled for "Sneakers," it was apparent that the greatest strength of this film was the veteran actors that are no longer visible and as pertinent in today´s Hollywood climate. Redford´s role is similar in demeanor as his performances in "The Last Castle," "Spy Game" and a few others, Aykroyd is his odd and entertaining self and River Phoenix showed a lighthearted wit that the world would never see develop. Poitier is good, but dramatically underused and Kingsley´s performance was a caricature of his former self and perhaps his first step into the parody he has become with roles in films such as "BloodRayne," "Species" and "Thunderbirds."
The plot of "Sneakers" finds Robert Redford as Martin Bishop, a master hacker who leads a team of intelligence experts that includes former CIA man Donald Crease (Sidney Poitier), blind soundman Erwin ´Whistler´ Emory (David Strathairn), conspiracy theorist and electronics expert Mother (Dan Aykroyd) and a talented young understudy, Carl Arbegast (River Phoenix). They are confronted by two members of the National Security Administration and asked to collect a special black box from a mathematician and return it to their ownership. The NSA tells Bishop that they know his true identity and do not have the legal means or talent capable of pulling off the heist and hire Bishop and crew to perform the duties necessary to accomplish the task.
Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems and the NSA men are not working for the Federal Government and the black box is a super hacking device that is fully capable of breaking the most secure encryption available. The mathematician is murdered and Bishop is framed for the murder of two Russian dignitaries. With the FBI on their tail and precious little time to work with, Bishop and his team of super thieves must break into an impossible to crack room and steal the device from a villainous former friend of Martin Bishop, Cosmo (Ben Kingsley). Bishop enrolls the help of a former love, Liz (Mary McDonnell), to facilitate a base of operations and romance a person with the necessary security credentials to break into the ultra-secure building.
"Sneakers" is technology-based thriller that lacks the action of the familiarly-themed first "Mission Impossible" film. In fact, if you would take "Spy Game" and remove anything relating to Brad Pitt from that film and blend the remaining parts with "Mission Impossible," you might get something with the same consistency and flavor as "Sneakers." There are gadgets aplenty and the technical capabilities of the crew provide drama and an awe factor that should please all but the most hard-core computer enthusiasts. Aykroyd´s oddly named character Mother spews conspiracy theories and techno mumbo-jumbo that shouts "Nerd Hero" to the masses and is a far cry different from "Mission´s" Ving Rhames. With a similar amount of technology and a much smaller dose of heroics and explosive action, "Sneakers" is neither the thinking man´s techno-thriller nor an older audience´s preference over "Mission Impossible." The story is good, but the pedestrian pace and thematic move about as slow as Robert Redford´s stealthy moves to heist the film´s notorious answering machine. Mix in the laughable performance by Ben Kingsley and "Sneakers" just falls a few notches more.
While watching "Sneakers," it was easy to remember the era when Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd and Sidney Poitier were commanding box office presences. It was easy to remember a time before River Phoenix succumbed on the sidewalk of the Viper Club. It was easy to remember when Ben Kingsley took good roles. When the final credits rolled for "Sneakers," it was apparent that the greatest strength of this film was the veteran actors that are no longer visible and as pertinent in today´s Hollywood climate. Redford´s role is similar in demeanor as his performances in "The Last Castle," "Spy Game" and a few others, Aykroyd is his odd and entertaining self and River Phoenix showed a lighthearted wit that the world would never see develop. Poitier is good, but dramatically underused and Kingsley´s performance was a caricature of his former self and perhaps his first step into the parody he has become with roles in films such as "BloodRayne," "Species" and "Thunderbirds."
The plot of "Sneakers" finds Robert Redford as Martin Bishop, a master hacker who leads a team of intelligence experts that includes former CIA man Donald Crease (Sidney Poitier), blind soundman Erwin ´Whistler´ Emory (David Strathairn), conspiracy theorist and electronics expert Mother (Dan Aykroyd) and a talented young understudy, Carl Arbegast (River Phoenix). They are confronted by two members of the National Security Administration and asked to collect a special black box from a mathematician and return it to their ownership. The NSA tells Bishop that they know his true identity and do not have the legal means or talent capable of pulling off the heist and hire Bishop and crew to perform the duties necessary to accomplish the task.
Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems and the NSA men are not working for the Federal Government and the black box is a super hacking device that is fully capable of breaking the most secure encryption available. The mathematician is murdered and Bishop is framed for the murder of two Russian dignitaries. With the FBI on their tail and precious little time to work with, Bishop and his team of super thieves must break into an impossible to crack room and steal the device from a villainous former friend of Martin Bishop, Cosmo (Ben Kingsley). Bishop enrolls the help of a former love, Liz (Mary McDonnell), to facilitate a base of operations and romance a person with the necessary security credentials to break into the ultra-secure building.
"Sneakers" is technology-based thriller that lacks the action of the familiarly-themed first "Mission Impossible" film. In fact, if you would take "Spy Game" and remove anything relating to Brad Pitt from that film and blend the remaining parts with "Mission Impossible," you might get something with the same consistency and flavor as "Sneakers." There are gadgets aplenty and the technical capabilities of the crew provide drama and an awe factor that should please all but the most hard-core computer enthusiasts. Aykroyd´s oddly named character Mother spews conspiracy theories and techno mumbo-jumbo that shouts "Nerd Hero" to the masses and is a far cry different from "Mission´s" Ving Rhames. With a similar amount of technology and a much smaller dose of heroics and explosive action, "Sneakers" is neither the thinking man´s techno-thriller nor an older audience´s preference over "Mission Impossible." The story is good, but the pedestrian pace and thematic move about as slow as Robert Redford´s stealthy moves to heist the film´s notorious answering machine. Mix in the laughable performance by Ben Kingsley and "Sneakers" just falls a few notches more.
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