Sneakers (1992) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Thriller |
Production Notes Biographies-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1992 | ||
Running Time | 120:11 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (79:33) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Programme | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Phil Alden Robinson |
Studio
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Robert Redford Dan Aykroyd Ben Kingsley Mary McDonnell River Phoenix Sidney Poitier David Strathairn |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $36.95 | Music | James Horner |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English French Portuguese Danish Finnish Czech Swedish Norwegian German Dutch Polish |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
This movie is called Sneakers because it is about people whose job it is to covertly break into a company's security systems for the purposes of testing those very systems - these people "sneak". Robert Redford leads the best team of sneakers - his team includes Sidney Poitier (ex-CIA operative), Dan Aykroyd (conspiracy theorist and gadget man), River Phoenix (juvenile hacker), and David Strathairn (blind genius). Robert Redford has never revealed to his team that he has a past; it catches up with him, and he is blackmailed into doing a job for the NSA - the US government agency in charge of communications intelligence. Things go wrong...
This movie gets started quickly, and moves along at a steady pace.
The movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.
We get a sharp, clear image. Perhaps clearer than we might want when we get close-ups of Robert Redford's face - he really got a beating from acne, didn't he? Shadow detail is good, and there is no visible low-level noise, making this image a pleasure to watch.
The sequence behind the main titles is set 20 years in the movie's past, and is shot in black-and-white with a sepia cast, a nice touch. Once the titles are over we move to "today", and colour is well saturated with no evidence of colour bleed.
There are no MPEG artefacts, and aliasing is only visible three times - the first two on a sheet of orange netting, and the third on a car window frame. There is no aliasing on the usual suspects (blinds, car grilles), so this artefact is very nicely controlled indeed by this transfer. There are a number of minuscule film artefacts, but they are barely noticeable.
The disc is RSDL-formatted, with the layer change at 79:33. It is visible, but only barely, and not at all objectionable.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The dialogue is clear and readily understood, with the exception of a single line at 14:50. This particular line is quite odd, sounding completely misplaced in the soundscape. The line consists of only a couple of words, and it is unimportant, but I mention it because it is the only real error in the sound.
The score, by James Horner, is well-suited to the movie - it supports both the slow, stealthy "sneaking", and moments of action.
I am unsure why the soundtrack is surround-encoded - I detected no significant audio from the surrounds, and nothing at all from the subwoofer. The sound was entirely frontal.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is adequate, for a fairly basic 2 channel track.
The extras are fairly basic.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-737, using Component output |
Display | Sony VPL-VW10HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics matte white screen with a gain of 1.0 (280cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE |
Speakers | Front Left and Right: Krix Euphonix, Centre: Krix KDX-C Rears: Krix KDX-M, Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5 |