Review of Sneakers (1992) by M M — 04 Feb 2008

The movie has an absolutely great cast. Poitier, Akyroyd (who is one of the best American character actors of his time-any cameo of his is a show stealer), Redford, and Ben Kingsley. The filmmakers set the right tone, the premise is fun and it is entertaining to be hanging out with these hyper-intelligent clandestine characters.

But at the end of the second act, we find what it is that separates a good movie from a great movie. It is at this point that we are introduced to Ben Kingsleyâ??s character and witness his interactions with Redford. Itâ??s at this point that the screenwriters have failed to appropriately establish the motivations of these characters and therefore the rest of the movie suffers for it. Maybe we needed more backstory on the history of these two (the vignette at the beginning of the film is expendable and doesnâ??t accomplish its purpose). The question arises: why are these two at odds with each other? Their interactions donâ??t make sense. Why is Kingsley acting so vindictive? Why is Redford so unsympathetic to an old friend? I think in the end it was the fact that the screenwriters tried to make Redford unflawed and wholly good. And they werenâ??t able to make Kingsley evil enough to explain Redfordâ??s cold-shouldered behavior.

How could this movie have been better? If Redford had truly betrayed Kingsley when they were younger? If they were fighting over a girl (tired but true premise)? Maybe they should have just copied The Third Man.