Kid reviews for Sneakers

It has violence and swearing.

Well, this movie was fun! There I said it, it was a lot of fun. It's definitely a movie that was ahead of it's time when it came out in '92 and I was quite amazed by the abundance of social commentary of today's society. It's not a very easy plot to follow, and it took me two viewings before I got it: Computer hacker criminal (legendary Robert Redford) and his team take on a task to steal a super secret black box decoder. There's a twist to it that I don't want to spoil but it results in them becoming prime suspects of the NSA. The movie does a phenomenal job of telling a high-stakes fast action tech thriller story that might lose some viewers. This is a great movie in my opinion and I think with all it has going for it, the best part of it all is the cast. Now, a cast like this only seems possible in fantasies but get ready: Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsly, River Phoenix, Mary McDonnell, and James Earl Jones, to name a few. The cast are all phenomenal [Honestly, I found it quite interesting to see River Phoenix, who's most known for heavy drama, being the comic relief character. He has great comedic timing!], the characters are interesting and engaging. And whether or not you actually understand what is going on in the movie, it still manages to keep you invested the entire time.

When my mom put this movie on the movie night board, I thought it was going to be an 80s movie about basketball. So wrong! This movie is a fun, imaginative movie about an old friendship that turns into a competition. It's not a bloody competition, but an edge-of-your-seat suspense involving theivery. Sounds good! When people say that the main character is hit on the head with a brick and kidnapped, it's not that violent. I thought it was just his hand, and it was mainly done for slapstick humor. Two people were shot with no quick-cuts for being at a scene where the main character is being framed by the FBI. There is some sex, but not anything terrible. A female character enters a room where a male is, and they start making out. Eventually, she unbuttons her shirt, and reveals her bra. They start closing the blinds, but it is obvious that 'something else' is happening. There is some cursing, but for good reasons. It is a really humerous movie, with Alfred Hitchcock-like suspense!

I really enjoyed this movie overall. There's just a couple of things that I would like to add to violence. There's at least one instance where a couple of side characters suddenly get shot, and although there's no gore, it happens suddenly, at point blank range, and in cold blood. The two victims were trying to help out the main character, and right after they get shot, he gets hit on the head with a brick and put into the trunk of a car. A while later he wakes up, and you see the one of the bad guy's henchmen open the trunk and hit him on the head again. You see it from the main character's viewpoint, so it's not gory, but you may see a cut on his head later. That's really all the main violence I remember. This definitely isn't the most violent movie I've seen, but the way it happens so suddenly made me flinch. Overall I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend watching it!