This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Piper’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
EXT. “TOY COMPANY” ROOF
MARTY BISHOP prepares to exit the roof of the building using the fire escape. COSMO has a gun pointed at his heart.
COSMO: Don't go.
MARTY looks studiously at COSMO before grasping the ladder more tightly.
MARTY: You do what you have to do, Cos. But if you want to stop me, you'll have to pull the trigger.
MARTY begins his descent. COSMO keeps his gun pointed at MARTY, but he does not shoot. There are a vast array of emotions imprinted on his face. There was never any doubt he'd let MARTY go free.
CREDITS ROLL.
Ha.
I wish.
Sneakers is a meticulously planned caper that perfectly manages its levels of suspense, playing with the ability to bend the audience's emotions at will. It's Man vs. Government, all thanks to a little black box cleverly disguised as an answering machine. This little bundle of wires has the capability to break the encryption of even the most protected computer systems. The team discovers that they could crash a plane, remove an entire section of the city's power, change high-security information—anything. They want to get the deadly box into the right hands. The problem is that, for a good while, they seem to be the only ones in the film who don't want to use it for evil.
Everything that happens poses new questions until the climax, which is at an on-the-edge-of-your-seat level of tension. That is—until the end. It would have been perfect if Sneakers had stopped with Cosmo's expression as Marty climbed down the fire escape to freedom. Unfortunately, it keeps going. What happens back at their HQ is not at all heartwarming. It's cheesy. The film starts to get predictable before this point, but it continues to dig itself deeper and deeper into a hole until it settles for an unrealistic and cheap ending. The news broadcast at the end is fine, it's just the encounter with the law and the demands that the team starts to make. It's an “aw, really?” kind of moment, because the film was going so well before that point.
Sneakers was locked in for a spot high on my favorites list until the ending. Now it doesn't even make the cut. It's disheartening. It's like when you're on your way home from a day that went perfectly, and you stop to grab your favorite pizza, only to discover that they're out. When you go next door for fast food instead, it turns out the $20 bill you had has mysteriously disappeared from your coat pocket.