first off and do not try this at home . this be after all only a movie . sneaker be probably the best suspense film that honestly deal with the issue of information technology . the film take you into the world of espionage via computer hacker and the new threat to world order . rather than chicago italian sport machine gun and zoot suit and and violin case and these guy work with equipment that can do far more than hold up a bank or run a casino . and they do it from a worktable with little complex machine with screen . these sneaker may have stumble onto the ability to change the entire infrastructure of the modern world . and it all work because of the outstanding script and the ensemble cast of some of the best actor in the business represent robert redford and ben kingsly and dan ackroyd and david strathairn and mary mcdonnell and sidney poitier and the late river phoenix and and even stephen tobolowsky ( who play the infamous ned ryerson in groundhog day ) a a nerdy tech guy . i have often felt that ensemble cast movie such a these have the most meat to them . robert redford play martin bishop ( aka marty or bish ) and the leader of a group of hacker for hire that test the security system of bank and other financial institution to pinpoint their weakness . but martin bishop be not who he say he be . in fact and he be really martin brice and a 1960 college radical who and with his colleague cosmo and use to hack into computer database with the intention of move money toward leave wing political cause 25 year before the launch of the world wide web . brice and cosmo become the target of u authority . brice escape to canada and assume another name . cosmo be not so lucky and apparently die in prison . the other member of the sneaker each have their little eccentricity represent whistler ( my favorite character ) and the blind tech genius play with amazing realism by the extraordinary david strathairn and mother ( dan ackroyd ) and a conspiracy theorist who believe that the people who assassinate jfk also frame pete rise and carl ( the late river phoenix ) and the boy hacker who be catch try to change his grade through his school computer system and donald crease ( sidney poitier ) and an x cia agent and and liz ( mary mcdonnell ) and a former mathematics and computer intellectual who be a former lover of redford . now and apparently and the fed have catch up with brice and aka bishop and and they want him to steal a certain black box from a dr. gunter janek and an eastern european genius who be the einstein of computer hacker . accord to the fed and the russian be finance janek through anonymous grant to create a key or shortcut to unlock the most complex computer system in the western world . the key have be hardwired into a computer chip locate inside a block box . the box be say to have the ability to break through unbreakable code use by the large financial and governmental institution and from the federal reserve to jfk airport . at first the plot center around the sneaker or hacker use their skill along with their bugging and stake out equipment to acquire the black box from the young professor . but an unanticipated twist push the movie into an unforeseen direction . all of a sudden and some of the people involve be not who they say they be . the recur theme of too many secret and no more secret push the plot into new territory but one that completely make sense for the rhetoric of the film a bishop or brice meet an old friend ( ben kingsly ) whom he do not expect to see . a great movie and suspenseful from begin to end . the performance of the cast be exquisite and particularly david strathairn a whistler and the blind tech wizard . in one amazing camera angle and we see him with dark glass a code number be reflect upon his lens . at another point and he have to drive a van and which almost worth the price of admission alone . not to be miss if you be a computer hacker and a computer tech and or just want good suspenseful story .