Jouer c'est tuer

It's movies like this one that are the reason I love movies. One of the greatest forgotten gems of the 80s, "Cloak & Dagger" is the exciting tale of deadly spies, imaginary superheroes, and ATARI. Henry Thomas ("E.T.") plays Davey Osborne, a lonely boy who has escaped into the fantasy world of his favorite video game hero - Jack Flack. Dabney Coleman gives the greatest performance of his career in the dual roles of Jack Flack and Davey's father. Sporting the coolest-looking leather bomber jacket and beret ever seen, Flack guides young Davey through the treacherous world of real spies, real secrets, and real bullets. Davey must keep an ATARI game cartridge containing plans for an invisible bomber plane encoded inside of it out of traitorous spies' hands, but no adult believes him, and he gets little help from the only person who does - his even younger friend Kim. A young William Forsythe co-stars as the gaming genius who unlocks the code within the cartridge. And Louis Anderson also has a short cameo towards the end.

"Cloak & Dagger" is an excellent movie about a boy who must face the dangers of the world all by himself following the death of his mother and his father's preoccupation with work. Dabney Coleman's character of Jack Flack is the best imaginary mentor ever featured in a film, preceding the likes of Tyler Durden and Frank the Bunny by over 15 years. The ending is truly touching and inspiring. This movie also has a heartwarming message to it - that at some point, you must learn to handle life's challenges all by yourself. And also that the greatest heroes exist in real life, not in fantasy. "Cloak & Dagger" is a film suitable for the whole family whose time has finally come to get the recognition it deserves. 10/10

Henry Thomas (E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial) made this film two years after that incredible hit. Dabney Coleman ('Tootsie') stars as his father who is a military officer. Thomas' mother has died and his father is busy with his career. In the face of this, Thomas turns to an imaginary friend in the form of a spy. With visions of his imaginary friend, he becomes involved in an espionage plot involving government defence secrets.

Children will embrace this film as all of us at that age have had imaginary friends. The movie is evenly paced and builds up to an exciting climax the way an adult thriller would say in the form of a James Bond movie but while doing this the film doesn't insult the intelligence of children --- a lot of whom are more intelligent than we give them credit for.

A lot of people love E.T., my self included. I cannot recall whether I saw it in the theaters, but Henry Thomas became a household name after that movie came out. The truth is when I think of Henry Thomas, I don't immediately think of E.T., but of CLOAK & DAGGER, which was one of my favorite films as a kid and will forever be one of my favorites. And yet there is something truly bizarre that always comes to me while watching it. I've never been a fan of video games. In fact, I think most of them are stupid, a waste of time and money. CLOAK & DAGGER was a video game I believe (well, it is in the movie). Henry Thomas stars as Davy Osbourne, an imaginitive 11-year-old who loves his favorite superhero Jack Flack, who he likes to view as his make-believe hero. Set in San Antonio during the summer, the film has Thomas going to run an errand for a friend, and owner of a computer store, and gets involved in something he never dreamed of: a real-life game involving spies and a video game. No one will believe him after he reports of a man being shot and murdered in front of his own eyes, including his own father an Air Force sergeant, played just wonderfully by Dabney Coleman, who I've enjoyed in everything from 9 to 5 to Tootsie. The movie soon becomes a roller coaster ride as Thomas is attempting to get away from the spies before they kill him. The plot is riveting and believable, which is the real reason why this pulled me in at such a young age. I can't imagine an actor better than Thomas in this lead role. Coleman is equally memorable as his father, who also plays Jack Flack. Michael Murphy, a great character actor, is chilling as the head spy. I recommend this film for anyone and everyone. ***1/2 out of 4.

Cloak and Dagger was one of my favorite films as a child and continues to hold up well as time passes by. A reminder, in many ways, how much Dabney Coleman's performances marked the years 1980-1985. Henry Thomas remains in many ways one of a scant few child actors to make their mark in multiple films (something Disney has struggled with in recent years, even with the attempts to market mediocre talents like Hilary Duff and Lindsey Lohan). And in an era where role playing games of any nature were looked down on, this portrayed them in a heroic light-"Jack Flack always escapes".

There are a number of skilled character actors who make up the supporting cast for this film, and the script continues to hold up to today's standards. In many ways, this film should act as a template for movie studios looking to craft a story for young audiences, as opposed to "Shark Boy and Lava Girl".

I fondly remember this movie and watch it to this day. Its amazing how, as kids, we saw this movie in the 80s where a child is being chased, shot at, almost stabbed, threaten to have his knee caps blown off and shot in the gut, kill 3 guys (2 not by him but caused by him)and be held hostage...and it was a family film rated PG! Still this movie didn't dumb down the dangers of real violence, international terrorism, espionage, and dangerous people. A movie made like this today would make the kid a genius and the bad guys clumsy and stupid. I do miss serious films like this for kids. They never dumbed it down and took the audience seriously. Movies like Poltergeist, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dark Crystal (Which scared me to death), The Neverending Story, and more always played to the intelligence of the audience. Now all we have is fart jokes and one-note slapstick. When my kids get old enough I do want them to watch these 80s film and learned to appreciate good film-making, something lacking in the 21st century, and by box-office results, the audience notices it too.