4K UHD Review: Kino Lorber’s Sneakers (Special Edition) 

Robert Redford leads an all-star cast in the terrific Sneakers.  Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD release is filled with special features and a new 4K restoration. 

The Film 

Sneakers is a seminal film for me.  The type of seminal film that makes it almost impossible to write about.   I’ve owned the film on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray.  Every possible format.  It’s a film that, even when it was showing on HBO or STARZ, I would stop and, wherever it was in the film, I would watch.  It contains so much of what I love about film and what makes it a truly great film.  The joy of great writing – a tightly constructed thriller that gives Hitchcock a run for his money, but has huge swaths of character moments like a Hawks film, and has the lightest of comedic touches to both liven up the film, but never discount the drama or tension.  

Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) leads a ragtag group of operators that help companies find the holes in their security systems.  The group of hackers consists of Crease (Sidney Poitier), Bishop’s right hand, Whistler (David Strathairn), comms and tech, Mother (Dan Aykroyd), surveillance, and Carl (River Phoenix), computer systems.  Bishop’s past catches up with him in more ways than one, and he is coerced into stealing a mysterious black box that has geo-political implications.  Framed for murder and the Government on Bishop’s trail, the team has to come together if they’re going to save the world and Bishop.  

The Phil Alden Robinson film is smart in a way that many spy thrillers only wish they could be.  At the center of the film is a MacGuffin so ingenious that to call it a MacGuffin is to do it an insult.  Even now, thirty years later, the film is still as fresh, timely, and scary as it was when it was released.  A film that never preaches but is always thematically on point.  It isn’t a surprise that writers Phil Alden Robinson, Lawrence Kasker, and Walter F. Parkes worked for over ten years on perfecting the script, even up until editing in fact.  There isn’t any piece of the story or characters that doesn’t work.  

It isn’t just a plot-based thriller, as mentioned, there is a Hawksian component to the way that it feels like a hangout film.  Characters interact and bounce off one another.  There’s a great amount of chemistry between the cast that makes it feel less like a Redford vehicle and more of an ensemble piece.  An ensemble piece filled with one of the greatest casts of the early ’90s.  Poitier, Strathairn, Aykroyd, and Phoenix match Redford in star power and charisma in their unique roles.  Each plays off one another in the way that a group who have known each other for years does.  

Add in Mary McDonald as Redford’s put-upon love interest gives the film that extra knowing component as she’s allowed to comment and deflate the sense of self-importance and never feels like a damsel in distress.  Others like Stephen Tolobolosky, Timothy Busfield, and Eddie Jones as antagonists of varying degrees who all do great work as well.  Though it’s Sir Ben Kingsley as the main villain, Cosmo, that’s as great a foil as Redford has ever had.  The way that there is a history without seeing it between the two men is what gives Sneakers that extra kick from good film to near-perfect pop entertainment.  

Sneakers is the perfect Saturday night at the movies.  

The Transfer

The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent example of what a new 4K Master with HDR encoding can do for a thirty-year-old film.  The film was released by Universal in 2015 on Blu-ray.  The 4K UHD disc is a remarkable upgrade when compared to the DNR-wiped Blu-ray from a decade ago.  The disc use of HDR is a demo disc example of how amazing and often subtle UHD is and how close it gets us to the theatrical experience.  There isn’t a blemish, scratch, or fleck of dirt on the flawless transfer.  The grain structure, the clarity, and the color are all perfectly balanced, resulting is another excellent reference quality disc for Kino Lorber and their 4K UHD releases.  

The Extras

They include the following;

DISC 1 (4KUHD): 

• Audio Commentary by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson with Co-Writers/Co-Producers Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes
• Audio Commentary by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson and Cinematographer John Lindley

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY): 

• Audio Commentary by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson with Co-Writers/Co-Producers Lawrence Kasker and Walter F. Parkes
• Audio Commentary by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson and Cinematographer John Lindley
• The Making of Sneakers: Documentary 
• Theatrical Trailer

The first of two archival Audio Commentaries.  This one is by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson with Co-Writers/Co-Producers Lawrence Kasker and Walter F. Parkes.  The trio begins with how they came up with the unique opening titles and STEC ASTRONOMY, which figures largely in the film.  Some of the details include the original opening that was far more violent; how the opening “heist” set up much of the characters and what the group does; the origins of the story and people who are real life Sneakers – which came out of Parkes and Kasker’s research for WarGames; how they developed the script and reversed engineer their plot because they came up with these characters “job”; the building of the relationship between Liz (Mary McDonald) and Martin (Redford); the reason they’ve explained the “black box”/MacGuffin; how they constructed the Too Many Secrets scene; the construction of the Cosmo (Kingsley) and Bishop scene – which leads to a larger discussion of the themes of the film; a great discussion of the “dinner party” scene – how it was developed and how they produced it during production; the construction of the final third act and the challenges they faced developing it; various alternate scenes, alternate characters, and alternate ideas that they wrote over the decade of develop the trio went through before settling on the screenplay they did; a discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more.  

The second of the two Audio Commentaries.  This one is by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson and Cinematographer John Lindley.  The duo begins with the opening sequence visual style and how they wanted to ensure that their formatting wasn’t a problem.  Some of the details include the various stage and set work done for the opening scene; some of the visual tricks and story cues in the “bank heist” – and discussion of filming on location in San Francisco; the visual references they took from other sources; lighting difficulties in the Sneaker’s Lair; the issues filming the Janik surveyance scene; the fact that they had to go through multiple black box iterations; how they accomplished some of the visuals for the Too Many Secrets sequence; a discussion of the use and what is a Power Pan throughout the film; the visual references and how they approached the visual style of the Cosmo and Bishop scene; and much more.  This track is a bit more subdued, with more moments of silence. 

The Making of Sneakers: Documentary (40:04) – this archival making-of doc from 2003 is quite thorough, covering everything from inception, script development, pre-production, production, and eventual release.  The documentary does a great job of covering the great details like where the name of the film came from; the decade long writing process at different studios – including failed ideas that were the black box, the motivations, every corner they painted themselves into, the breakthrough in the script; the attachment of Robert Redford; the research and meeting of the various people that eventually they would model characters after; the various characters – their backstories, their purpose in the story, and the actors that portray them; the themes that the film deals with; and much more.  The doc uses some great B-roll and behind-the-scenes footage edited together with interviews from the time, and new interviews. Comments by Director/Co-Writer Phil Alden Robinson; Co-Writers/Co-Producers Lawrence Kasker and Walter F. Parkes, USC Professor Len Adelman; hacker John Draper aka Captain Crunch; stars Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley, David Strathairn, Mary McDonald, River Phoenix, and Dan Aykroyd. 

Rounding out the special features are trailers for Sneakers (2:54); 3 Days of the Condor (3:05); Havana (3:06); Indecent Proposal (2:15); The Last Castle (2:24) 

The Final Thought 

Kino Lorber has released a truly great 4K UHD for a truly great movie.  Highest Possible Recommendations! 

Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of Sneakers is out April 22^nd