Review of Sneakers (1992) by Blake P — 17 Jan 2016

With such a hugely talented cast lined up, Sneakers offered too many big names to pass up.

With a big-name cast and a thievery plot, Sneakers is clearly a contemporary attempt to resurrect the glory of the caper genre which has not been notorious for decades. However, Sneakers also attempts to go very legitimate in its path and reduce the humour to a minimum. There are still some jokes in parts thanks to the charms of the cast, but Sneakers is a film with minimal comedic edge since it desires to be a very legitimate film. Unfortunately, it ends up in a conservative state as a result.

Sneakers was not the fun experience I was expecting. Though it makes an effort to be a caper film, Sneakers also makes the effort to be a part of the conspiracy thriller genre. As a result it evokes slight memories to star Robert Redford's past in the espionage thriller Three Days of the Condor (1975). However, it doesn't follow the same practical path that Three Days of the Condor did since it spends the majority of its focus on the characters talking out all the theoretical details of their scheme. Sneakers is therefore not much of a practical film, but one more concerned in finding thrills within logistics and conspiracies. This means that the dialogue is very much a lot of little things contributing to building a bigger picture without managing to craft sufficient drama in the process. The story manages to keep moving through all this, but it does it at a dull pace without ever taking a second to do anything with the characters.

Sneakers has a script which is too machine to capitalize on the talents of the cast. They are talented at what they achieve in the film, but there is a lack of humanity in the experience due to the story's insistence on depicting everything through talking and implications without actually putting them up on the screen. Sneakers has a great story implied in its subtext, but what it actually brings to the surface proves to be a tedious and mind-numbing collection of conversations which get so caught up in conspiracy jargon that it becomes easy to lose interest and focus very fast. It never has any surprises after that because once Sneakers establishes its path it meanders its way through it from start to finish with a lack of dramatic satisfaction as a result. I walked away from the film having learned nothing except being reminded of how talented Sidney Poitier is as an actor, and I couldn't help but feel like a lot of talented actors put their time into a film which was not up to the standard of their talents.

In terms of style, the cinematography is able to constantly give viewers of Sneakers a claustrophobic feeling. Most of the shots occur within rather small spaces and occur very close up to emphasize the tension of the small spaced surrounding the characters. However, it is rendered rather mute by the fact that the lighting in Sneakers is a major technical flaw. With so much of the film taking place at night or within confined rooms, there is minimal lighting that ultimately makes its way onto the screen and causes the film to be essentially a massive blur of shadow. It's possible to see what is happening if you look closely enough, but doing so is far from an enjoyable experience and certainly does not give the film the effective atmosphere that it truly desires. To transcend a script this boring, Sneakers would have to stop getting distracted by its many characters and subplots. It would also need to use more engaging character interactions and music if it wanted to build the atmosphere it aspires to, but the fact that it gets bogged down with such poor lighting is simply a rookie mistake on behalf of director Phil Alden Robinson.

Quite frankly, an ensemble film with a large collection of talented names that condemns the cast into spending the entire film talking a lot of theoretical language which is not ultimately put into all that much practical use. But this doesn't prevent them from bringing in solid efforts.

Sidney Poitier is the best actor in Sneakers. The legendary actor proves that he has still lost none of his charisma after all these years because Sneakers proves his ability to transcend a big-name cast with a performance that stands above all others. Despite the very machine nature of the film's plot, Sidney Poitier is the most humane aspect of the feature due to his ability to find raw tension in every scene. The intended atmosphere of the film is grasped by the tenacious dramatic charisma of Sidney Poitier who flows along with the story so easily that every second he is on screen is nothing short of a treat.

Robert Redford is a natural skill as well. With an organic edge of sophistication to him and a natural ability to work in an ensemble, Robert Redford is able to keep his dramatic spirit consistently alive while bouncing off all his surrounding actors. Robert Redford captures the intended level of tension and keeps it active in the role while managing to ensure he has a tenacious understanding of all the science behind the film. He is swift with his line delivery and always to the point yet restrained enough not to push the dramatic limits on his character, effectively bringing natural charisma into his part.

River Phoenix has always been a well-respected lead actor, but Sneakers is an opportunity for him to work with an ensemble cast. Unfortunately, this means that his talents are reduced to minimal screen time and his charms are largely underutilized even though they are clearly distinctive. There is insufficient screen time given to Dan Akroyd as well who really brings in an intelligent supporting effort.

So Sneakers has a skilful cast led by the enormously talented Sidney Poitier, but with repetitive imagery, an abundance of talking and a shortage of characterization, it is far from compelling enough grasp viewers.