I thought this was quite the brilliant movie, with the essential amorality of various police agencies vividly displayed. They all are listening and recording every word, but each care only about their own little bailiwick, non of which includes John Anderson. More so, almost, they care about nothing, and realize the essential meaningless and futility of their lives, as they live their lives secondhand by eavesdropping on bad guys whose crimes and threats are never revealed. In the end, they realize that all their actions are illegal and destroy all their tapes and evidence of this caper.
The genius Sydney Lumet parlayed this clever irony into an obsession with police corruption: Serpico, Prince of the City, Q & A, etc., where he explored the continual lure of the greed and power on cops. He was about the only director to explore this common corruption until the scathing Training Day and The Shield. The Anderson Tapes presage the era of omnipresent taping, where much of any person's external life is videotaped without their knowledge and permission by so-called security cameras. London has over a million cameras on street corners intersections, stores, and US cities are copying that. In this movie, we are brought back to the "quaint" world of yesteryear where government agencies understood that these privacy violations are wrong.
Sean Connery is, as usual in his non-Bond, films, superb. His gritty hood exhibits the macho authenticity and believability he brings to every film (only maybe Denzel does the same), and the supporting cast is excellent too. While not at all a comedy, there is a definite tongue in cheek aspect here in the blindness and moral ambiguity of the many police and spy agencies monitoring the heist- all in vain.
The genius Sydney Lumet parlayed this clever irony into an obsession with police corruption: Serpico, Prince of the City, Q & A, etc., where he explored the continual lure of the greed and power on cops. He was about the only director to explore this common corruption until the scathing Training Day and The Shield. The Anderson Tapes presage the era of omnipresent taping, where much of any person's external life is videotaped without their knowledge and permission by so-called security cameras. London has over a million cameras on street corners intersections, stores, and US cities are copying that. In this movie, we are brought back to the "quaint" world of yesteryear where government agencies understood that these privacy violations are wrong.
Sean Connery is, as usual in his non-Bond, films, superb. His gritty hood exhibits the macho authenticity and believability he brings to every film (only maybe Denzel does the same), and the supporting cast is excellent too. While not at all a comedy, there is a definite tongue in cheek aspect here in the blindness and moral ambiguity of the many police and spy agencies monitoring the heist- all in vain.