SNEAKERS
A film review by Sarah M. Elkins
Copyright 1992 Sarah M. Elkins
SNEAKERS: Action/"sting" movie, up-to-date with cryptology, hacking, and the NSA; high-tech thefts and double-crosses, the good guys against "the gummint," or is it really? Or *is* it really?
Plot/kick-off: Marty, the head of a security consulting firm with a 60's rebel/hacker past, is threatened with jail unless he helps the National Security Agency (an actual US government agency, which does seem to have been overstepping its bounds lately, initially charged with monitoring and decoding any signal transmission relevant to the security of the United States) steal a cryptologist mathematician's "black box" invention. He enlists his firm's help to get it and more action results from this.
Characters/acting: Robert Redford is believable as Marty. Mary McDonnell was good as Liz, Marty's ex-girlfriend who got tired of Marty's "boys club" but gets dragged back into Marty's life when he needs her help. Dan Ackroyd was hilarious as "Mother," the phone phreak who lives the Illuminati trilogy, perhaps a little too deeply (conspiracy theories abound). Sidney Poitier was a pleasure to see as the ex-CIA man. These players all seemed well into their parts, not "look I'm Robert Redford" etc. Unfortunately, Ben Kingsley and James Earl Jones seemed a little bit over-the-top as the characters they played. Ben! Stop playing these power-hungry smoothies and get back to Pascali's Island! James! Stop these cameos and get a real role! Oh. Please excuse me for my outburst. :-)
Cinematography/FX: okay.
Score/Sound: good varied soundtrack, also good sound FX.
Violence/Gore: some bullets flying, a couple of dead bodies (no gore), a few fights and slugs.
Language: probably some, not a lot.
Skin/situations: innuendos, some kissing and foreplay.
Analysis: Great throwaway lines, good twists and turns, edge-of-your-seat at times, but a little self-indulgent, especially at the end (think TERMINATOR 2). I feel like one final draft could have ironed out some of the movie's flaws (a couple of inconsistencies, a couple of doubtful scenarios, and the overplaying mentioned above), but on the other hand I didn't think about most of them until the day after. It was nice to see a movie take a crack at the NSA (anyone interested in our right to privacy in communications should read "Decrypting the Puzzle Palace," John Perry Barlow's analysis of the recent behind-the-scenes actions and initiatives of the NSA, printed in COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM, June 1992 and reprinted in EFFECTOR ONLINE, Issue 3.1, July 29, 1992). Minor flaws and serious considerations of our eroding rights aside, however, SNEAKERS was a fun movie with some cool scenes/tricks to cheer at, certainly an enjoyable ride.
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