Review of Cloak & Dagger (1984) by Dawn S — 07 Sep 2015

A fun, even if rather dated, adventure thriller that places a boy Davey with a fascination for spy espionage and an imaginary friend Jack Flack, a professional spy, who lands himself in a real game of cat and mouse when he attains a video game cartridge containing high profile government information from a murdered doctor, leading to being chased by the men after the cart.

As common for a lot of films prior to the PG-13, there's a lot of stuff ranging between light fun and dark with violence that could pass for a mature film, which is odd for a film that seems intended for family audiences.

The film has good performances from Dabney Coleman doubling as Davey's father and the fictional Jack Flack. Henry Thomas as Davey isn't just starpower in this film either, he has a good emotional acting range and these extreme circumstances push him into a frightening reality that makes us fear for his character and want him to rise to courage in dealing with the enemy as he matures from his make-belief spy adventure games to the reality of tragic circumstances, but also understanding his strength and determination to protect what and who he can.

While as stated, perhaps a bit bordering on a bit of a darkish thriller, it is a fun adventure film with a mature edge to it that pays off. It's a fun little thriller-mystery-adventure film that's good for 80's standards.