SVS: “Sneakers”

Heist films are quite an interesting little genre, with a long and storied history, and an intriguing set of commonly-present story elements and genre rules. They’re often elaborate, twisty, morally …imprecise, and (very often) a ton of fun.

In related news, Sneakers is on NETFLIX INSTANT and YOUTUBE($).

When shadowy U.S. intelligence agents blackmail a reformed computer hacker and his offbeat team of security experts into stealing a code-breaking “black box” from a Soviet-funded genius, they uncover a deadly conspiracy.

Like most heist films, this is an “ensemble cast” piece. And it’s an amazingly (almost embarrassingly) good group: Redford and Poitier, Strathairn and Aykroyd and River Phoenix, McDonnell and Kingsley. And James Earl Jones. Of course. With that cast, is it any wonder that the film takes an …interesting approach to the whole “How Can We Root for Bad Guys?” question? Because, seriously. Who doesn’t want to unequivocally root for those guys? (Except for Kingsley, of course. You won’t be rooting for him.)

A couple of things that surely lead to my affection for this film: a) it doesn’t take itself too seriously, b) it’s a great Friday night flick — see “a)”, and c) I’m not the only person who values its clever, cotton-candy-ish contributions to the genre. Deep? No, sir. Great? Pro’lly not. Great fun? Oh, you betcha. Yeah.

Another handful of loosely-affiliated observations: The score is one of James Horner’s most inventive and finest works. Also, the word-play in the title’s pretty obvious. But I’m obtuse, so I didn’t get it for a surprisingly-long time. And once I did, I loved it. Oh, and it’s PG-13, so perhaps not for the entire family.

Lastly, I was just beginning to wonder why Phil Alden “Field of Dreams/Band of Brothers” Robinson seems to have mostly disappeared. Then I realized the film he released in 2002 — currently streaming on NETFLIX INSTANT — probably answered my question. And the film he released this year probably didn’t help, either. But don’t let that slow you down.

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