My Cultural Diet

Have you ever started watching a movie and within the first five minutes or so, felt yourself physically relaxing because you knew — beyond any shadow of doubt — that you were in for a good time? That’s precisely what happened to me during this most recent viewing of Sneakers. Some of that was due to a sense of comforting nostalgia (despite 20+ years having passed since my last viewing, I still remembered an awful lot) as well as a delightfully geeky storyline involving security consultants, government agencies, cryptography, and privacy that still feels relevant today even with all of the ’90s computer technology onscreen. (Like the Cray supercomputer just sitting there in the bad guy’s office.) And a lot of that was due to a powerhouse cast that includes Robert Redford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, and Mary McDonnell, all of whom had a blast making the movie. Although it does delve into conspiracy theory territory, Sneakers never gets too dark or paranoid. Rather, it remains a deft and charming crowdpleaser thanks to Redford et al.‘s performances, an engaging plot, some wonderfully stylistic flourishes, and James Horner’s score.

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