We could tell you what it's about.
But then, of course, we would have to kill you.
Distributed by
Columbia TriStar
Cert:
Cat.no: UDR 90053
Running time: 120 minutes
Year: 1992
Pressing: 2000
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 16 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
Languages: 5 languages available
Subtitles: 11 languages available
Widescreen: 1.85:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index, Cast and Filmmakers' Notes, Trailer, Production Notes
Director:
Phil Alden Robinson
(The Age of Aquarius, Field of Dreams, In the Mood, Sneakers)
Producers:
Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker
Screenplay:
Phil Alden Robinson, Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker
Music:
James Horner
Cast:
Martin Bishop: Robert Redford (All the President's Men, Anthem, Barefoot in the Park, A Bridge Too Far, Brubaker, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Candidate, The Chase, The Great Gatsby, The Great Waldo Pepper, Havana,
The Horse Whisperer, Indecent Proposal, Inside Daisy Clover, Legal Eagles, The Natural, Out of Africa, Sneakers, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor, Up Close and Personal, s)
Cosmo: Ben Kingsley (Bugsy, Ghandi, Maurice, Photographing Fairies, Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Sneakers, Species, Twelfth Night)
Donald Crease: Sidney Poitier (The Greatest Story Ever Told, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, In The Heat Of The Night, The Jackal, Little Nikita, Shoot To Kill, Sneakers, They Call Me Mister Tibbs, To Sir With Love)
Irwin 'Whistler' Emory: David Strathairn (DoloL.A. Confidential)
Tom: David Strathairn (Bob Roberts, A Dangerous Woman, Eight Men Out, The Firm, Home for the Holidays, L.A. Confidential, A League of their Own, Losing Isaiah, Lost in Yonkers, Memphis Belle, Mother Night, Passion Fish, The River Wild,
Shadows and Fog, Silkwood, Sneakers, Stars and Bars)
Mother: Dan Aykroyd (1941, The Blues Brothers, Blues Brothers 2000, Caddyshack II, Coneheads, Driving Miss Daisy, Feeling Minnesota, Getting Away with Murder, Ghostbusters 1 & 2, The Great Outdoors, Grosse Pointe Blank,
My Fellow Americans, My Girl 1 & 2, My Stepmother is an Alien, Neighbors, Nothing But Trouble, The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, Sgt. Bilko, Sneakers, Spies Like Us, Trading Places)
Carl Arbogast: River Phoenix (Explorers, I Love You To Death, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jimmu Reardon, Little Nikita, The Mosquito Coast, My Own Private Idaho, Running on Empty, Sneakers, Stand By Me, The Thing Called Love)
Liz: Mary McDonnell (Blue Chips, Dances with Wolves, Grand Canyon, Independence Day, Mariette in Ecstasy, Passion Fish, Sneakers)
Sneakers
is the name given to the cast of good guys and a girl in this film about a group of computer
hackers who are hired to test security systems. Led by Martin Bishop (a fun performance from
Robert Redford), the crew also features former CIA employee Donald Crease (Sidney
Poitier), blind soundman Irwin 'Whistler' Emory (David Strathairn), gadgets
wizard "Mother" (a portly, post-Ghostbusters II Dan Aykroyd), young genius
Carl Arbogast (the late River Phoenix) and Martin's former girlfriend Liz (Mary
McDonnell).
The film starts in 1969 with Bishop and his college colleague Cosmo doing what they do best,
until the FBI get wind by a twist of fate Cosmo is arrested. In the present day - well, 1992
when the film was made - our heroes get hold of a black box which it's discovered can break
into any security system in the world. Of course, everyone wants to get hold of it and are
willing to kill to succeed. It's no secret, apart from to those with their brains shut down,
that amongst the interested parties is the pony-tailed Cosmo (Ben Kingsley), wanting
to reap the reward after thinking he was framed at the time.
The company involved with the black box is one "Setec Astronomy", but who are they?
What do they do? Who do they represent? With a bounty of $175,000 up for grabs, will Bishop
take the Feds up on their offer? Well, like Don Corleone's, this is the kind of offer that
you can't refuse.
The picture is presented in the original 1.85:1 ratio and it's anamorphic, like the Region 1
disc. There's no obvious artifacts, but the print isn't always perfect and there's also an
element of grain throughout. The average bitrate is a superb 7.38Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s.
The sound is Dolby Digital Surround for each language on the disc. There's nothing here that
will tax your speakers in any way, but it's clear and has no problems.
Extras :
Chapters :
Only 16 chapters, the usual Universal-via-Columbia offering, so could
use more.
Languages/Subtitles :
Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround) in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
There are ELEVEN subtitled languages: English, French, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish,
Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, German, Polish and Czech.
And there's more... :
But it's the standard fare - a Theatrical Trailer, a few pages of
Production Notes and the Cast and Filmmakers' Notes are brief
biogs and filmogs for director Phil Alden Robinson and the other cast members
listed atop this review.
Menu :
A static and silent menu with the group cover shot about - but with the blue replaced by white
for some unknown reason since I've never seen it like that before - plus the basic options.
Overall, this is an entertaining piece of nonsense. Don't expect it to change your life and
it does have rather a questionable ending containing a cameo for James Earl Jones.
I could tell you what happens, but of course, I'd have to kill you.
There's no big reason why this film has a 15-certificate. At the time of video release, the
BBFC hadn't introduced 12-certificates for home viewing and the film only gained a 12-cert
on the big screen because of American film companies' insistence to throw in an f-word to
stop it getting a box-office-death PG-rating.
The line? Sidney Poitier muttering "Motherfuckers mess with me!"
One last thing, given the lack of extras that you'll go back to time and again, the age of this
film and the averageness of the picture and sound quality and I think Columbia should introduce
a mid-price range of around £14.99 or less for DVDs like this, not charge a penny under
twenty nicker for each title.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
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