A snappy, extremely well-written literate script from the Oscar-nominated writer/director of FIELD OF DREAMS is brought to life by one of the best casts ever assembled. The legendary Robert Redford leads a ragtag bunch of computer jocks, which includes Oscar nominees Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, and Oscar-winner Mary McDonnell. Maybe the film's best performance, aside from Redford, is by David Strathairn, the only major player who has never been up for an Oscar. And Oscar winner Ben Kingsely is a sublime villain.<br /><br />Redford is Martin Bishop, the head of a group of computer and security specialist misfits who breach corporate security systems as a way of analyzing their weaknesses and recommending improvements. The group is coerced into a great caper: steal a little black box from a top mathematician, for the US government. Only it isn't just a little black box, it's a codebreaker - actually it's THE codebreaker: a computer formula that can crack any encryption software ever devised.<br /><br />Oh, and it's not the US government ... it's the mob, which wants the codebreaker to deal with the Russians. SO Bishop and company have to steal the box back from the mob, in one of the greatest capers ever.