Sneakers is another (more) contemporary heist film with the added twist that the criminals are actually working for the government. Robert Redford is Martin Bishop, a former computer hacker turned security consultant, along with his rag-tag team of criminally inclined misfits (a cast including Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, and David Straithairn). They’re hired by the NSA to steal a ‘black box’ supposedly developed for the Russian government. All is not as it seems, however, and pretty soon everyone is in a lot of trouble and … things get really complicated from there on out.
There are several heists in this heist film and both are in the ‘Oh my God, they’re going to get caught!’ category, ratcheting up the tension via the exterior movements of other characters. Unlike the other films on this list, it is not entirely clear why the heists need to be pulled off at any given moment. The audience knows about as much as the criminals do. There are the requisite early-90s computer things going on, but thankfully the heist is largely accomplished through intellect and not through high-tech gadgets.
The cast really make the film, glossing over some of the more ridiculous edges and injecting some very necessary charm into the proceedings. Due to the computer-tech angle, Sneakers is almost more dated than the 60s films on my list. Thankfully we have Robert Redford to keep us interested.
Continue reading on the next page…
