Director Phil Alden Robinson’s 1992 high-tech caper thriller makes its debut in the 4K format packed with star power and still delivering a nail-biting experience in Sneakers (Kino Lorber, rated PG-13, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, 126 minutes, $44.95).
The interweaving story finds young college student Martin Brice wanted for bank fraud and years later, now going by the alias Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) while running a high-tech firm that tests financial institutions for vulnerabilities in security protocols.
When two supposed National Security Agency agents find Martin and offer him a deal he can’t refuse to steal a magical black box, he pulls his entire team of “sneakers” into the mission.
They include hacker and conspiracy theorist Mother (Dan Ackroyd), blind telecommunications expert Whistler (David Strathairn), rookie information expert Carl (River Phoenix) and former CIA employee Donald Crease (Sidney Poitier).
Unfortunately, all is not what it seems for Martin, and he gets sucked into a dangerous and deadly game with an old friend (Ben Kingsley) who could unleash a new economic world order.
The engaging story, perfectly executed by a fantastic cast, gets further supplemented with appearances by Mary McDonnell as Martin’s old girlfriend Liz Ogilvy, Stephen Tobolowsky as researcher Werner Brandes and James Earl Jones as an NSA agent.
Easily one of the best high-tech thrillers made, “Sneakers” offers a foreshadowing of a world too reliant on digital information and its big brother ramifications.
4K in action: Culled from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, the movie shines throughout, starting with a nice cinematic touch in the opening scene.
Specifically, a flashback to Martin’s college hijinks during a snowstorm was displayed in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio (black bars on either side of the screen) before spreading out into a much more detailed, and color-rich screen-filling presentation for the current time period.
Moments showcasing the vivid enhancements of ultra-high definition technology include a stairwell bathed in red light, the fibered texture of Martin’s tweed jacket, rain cascading down a window with Martin’s face blurred behind it, a pool bathed in blue light with a layer of fog above the water, Martin laying in a closed car trunk only lit by red tail lights and the clarity within a dark elevator shaft.
Also, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack reinforces some of the punch-in-the-face musical moments as the suspense ramps up through the use of pounding on piano keys and urgent horn arrangements.
Best extras: Viewers get all of the digital goodies from the DVD Collector’s Edition from 2003 that starts with a pair of optional commentary tracks on both the included 4K and Blu-ray discs.
First, the creative trio behind the film — co-writer and director, Mr. Robinson, with co-writers Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes — mainly go deep into the genesis and progression of the story and the evolution of the screenplay.
They touch on the writing phrase “laying pipe” explained as putting in small clues that pay off later; who were sneakers; the nine-year odyssey to make this caper movie; important lines of dialogue; character development; pacing of the dialogue; and crafting scenes of misdirection.
The second optional commentary track offers sporadic interjections of memories from Mr. Robinson and cinematographer John Lindley, with some overlap but with plenty of other insightful information.
For example, they discuss extending the width of the opening credits on the college scene so projectionists would not think the smaller aspect ratio was the entire film; shooting on Universal’s backlot at “Back to the Future” square; finding 1969 computer equipment that worked; confirming Mr. Ackroyd believes in much more crazy conspiracy theories; and assembling a mainframe computer out of balsam wood,
Finally, a 40-minute production documentary “The Making of Sneakers” displayed in the standard definition format has cast, crew and even a hacker and cryptographer define specifics such as “sneakers’ (teams hired to break into top secret installations) and using a Captain Crunch whistle to emit a tone to get free long-distance phone calls.
They also provide an overall analysis of the types of real characters portrayed in the film and their methodologies for hacking and controlling security.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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