3
Those of you who have seen it'll know Dan's in it, though that wasn't my primary motivation for watching it (
). For those who haven't seen it, Dan's in it, along with Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, River Phoenix and Ben Kingsley. The film's about a "tiger team" (i.e., security experts who break into buildings, computers, etc., in order to help companies pinpoint their security weaknesses) -- though it is referred to in the movie as "sneaking", hence the name -- headed by a character named Martin Bishop. Also on the team are: conspiracy theorist Darren "Mother" Roscow (Danny), blind pitch-perfect genius/phreaker Erwin "Whistler" Emory (Strathairn), ex-CIA agent Donald Crease (Poitier), and boy hacker Carl (Phoenix). Mr. Bishop is a fugitive whose real identity is uncovered by a pair of gentlemen claiming to be from the NSA, blackmailing him and his team into a mission to recover a, "black box" from a renowned mathematician under the auspices of breaking the Russians' codes. This black box turns out to be an all-powerful encryption breaker which, in the wrong hands, could do some mighty terribly things...
I've watched the movie twice now, and I absolutely love it. Despite two watchings, I still get a surge of adrenaline during the action sequences, and also any scene with Ben Kingsley (holy crap, he's creepy o.o He has the stare-y eyes! He plays the villain of the movie). But there's also some real gems amongst the comedy, as well. Plus, we get to see Danny dancing, and doing a wonderful job of it (he was dancing with Bishop's girlfriend, Liz)!
I think I may also have a minor crush on Whistler. <3
... and did my eyes deceive me, or were the computers used by the lads running Windows 3.1? *g*
I'll also admit that Kingsley's character, and in particular, a speech he makes about the world not being run by money, oil, or weapons, but rather, by those who control information, the little ones and zeroes... in fact, for that matter, the entire film at times... is actually kind of chilling, when you consider the advances of technology, with information increasingly ever-present and available, when you consider the noise about privacy issues we hear coming from detractors of Facebook (if you don't want it on the web, don't put it there), or Google Buzz's recent issues with accidentally revealing contacts' email addresses -- heck, the entire mess that is social networking mediums. It's eerily prescient.
Dan was... well, given his background in spiritism and UFOs, it seemed appropriate for him to be playing a conspiracy theorist. xD But his character is, despite this, just as competent a technician as the others on the team, from running the audio-visual equipment right through to rigging up a device to detect voice stress, like a form of polygraph. Plus the fact we get to see him dancing xD.
So, if you haven't seen it, go see it. ^_^ If you have seen it, discuss!
~Theo.
