kylopod It's quite an experience watching a movie that you haven't seen since childhood. Your memories of the film are filtered through an innocent perspective you no longer possess, and as you watch the film again you're struck by how different it looks to you now, even as the memories flood back.Some of my favorite films from childhood, like "The Neverending Story," have not stood up well as I've grown older. Others, I've found, have been enhanced by my adult perspective. "Cloak & Dagger" falls in the latter category. Interestingly, my overall opinion of the film has not changed. Back in 1984, I perceived it as a good but not great film. I still perceive it that way.At age seven, I enjoyed how the movie blurred the line between fantasy and reality. That's one of the techniques that make for good children's movies, the recognition that a child's fantasy life can feel as real as anything else happening around him. And movies in which the child's fantasies literally come true seem like vindication to young viewers.Henry Thomas of "E.T." fame plays a youngster mourning his mother's death by escaping into a fantasy world of adventure games. He has an imaginary friend called Jack Flack, a suave super-spy with a passing resemblance to the boy's father (Dabney Coleman, in a wonderful dual role). The father, a hardened Air Force pilot, loves his son but wants him to grow up, telling him that real heroes are those who put food on the table, not those who go around shooting people. That may seem a harsh thing to say to a child, but the boy does appear to be having psychological problems, unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality even though he's old enough to know the difference. So when he witnesses the actual murder of an FBI agent, who slips him a video game cartridge right before dying, the boy is the last person anyone will believe. He knows the murderers will be after him next, but how will he get his dad to believe him soon enough to stay home from work the next day?What's nice about the film is the seamless way it combines the conventions of adult thrillers and children's adventures. The child as the murder witness whom no one will believe is a setup that would have made Hitchcock proud. I'm sure the filmmakers realized the connection, for there are many nods to Hitchcock, including a visual allusion to "Vertigo" as the murder victim plummets down a long stairway, and a plot that combines elements of "Rear Window" and "North by Northwest." Like the latter, the movie greatly exploits its locale. Viewers who have been to San Antonio will recognize many of the places, including the River Walk, the setting for a unique chase scene.Then there is the MacGuffin of the "Cloak & Dagger" cartridge itself, a special copy containing information important to the bad guys (whom the kid perceives to be spies, but who may simply be mobsters). The Atari game looks quite primitive today, and the scenes in which the boy calls upon his geek friend (William Forsythe) to crack the code will probably not impress those who take interest in computer espionage. But that hardly matters. The filmmakers understand, as Hitchcock did, that the MacGuffin is there only to move the plot along, and is not independently important.As the boy evades the villains, Jack Flack keeps appearing and giving him kernels of advice. Although we realize that Flack won't say anything the boy doesn't already know, he helps the boy keep his calm and use his ingenuity to defeat some dangerous men, while gradually learning he doesn't need an imaginary friend. This isn't like "Home Alone" where the villains are portrayed as cartoon idiots. The movie takes its relatively uncomplicated plot seriously and manages to make some sense, without feeling manufactured. While it doesn't pretend to be realistic, it does grow out of the basic truth that adults don't take kids as seriously as they should.The movie also confirms, once again, that Henry Thomas was one of the best child actors of all time. A lesser actor could have easily sunk this movie, as indeed Christina Nigra, playing the girl next door, almost does. She is cute, but can't act to save her life. Thomas never feels like he's acting, and as a result we almost can believe in the absurd events even when we watch the movie as adults, long having set aside our own childhood fantasies.

Kristine Another film that my friend lent me, man, it's like she lent me the Brady Bunch variety pack of family friendly movies. :-P Eh, it's all good. But she bought this recently at a store and told me how it was one of her favorite childhood movies, when I told her I never saw it, she looked at me all shocked and told me that I simply had to see this movie. That it was so adorable and a great family film, so she lent it to me and here is my review.It's about this boy, Davey, and his imaginary friend, Jack Flack. Together they go on an adventure when Davey is in a hospital and sees a scientist who has just been shot and gives him a "Cloak and Dagger" game cover and tells him it's top secret. It turns out that the game opens up secrets of military weapons and now Davey is being chased by the bad guys who want this secret, but who can he trust? It was an alright film, I can see myself enjoying it when I was a kid, but as an adult, I wasn't really amused. I guess when you grow up with something, you still will always have a soft part in your heart for the movie, I think that's the case for my friend. But I'd recommend it for the kids despite some major unrealistic situations, it was a cute family film.5/10

mangiman This movie was on HBO everyday for a two month stretch when I was a kid. And I never missed it. I thought it was the coolest movie ever. I had those little high end soldier figures. Tons of them. You use to be able to buy all kinds of knights, civil war soldiers, modern soldiers. Great time to be a geek. :) I wish it was on DVD.

tfrizzell Henry Thomas (of E.T. fame) is a young boy who would rather live in the fantasy world with imaginary friend Jack Flack (a character from various spy games played brilliantly by Dabney Coleman) than the real world with his Air Force father (also played by Coleman). But when some bad guys led by Michael Murphy kill a man and Thomas is the only witness, he gets involved in a high stakes game that appears to be another fantasy to everyone else. Thomas has also been entrusted with a video game cartridge which contains top secret blueprints of U.S. military aircrafts. A really good, but totally unheard of little film that has a smart screenplay and strong direction. Dabney Coleman proves he can carry a film with one of his finest performances. Look for Louie Anderson and William Forsythe in small roles. 4 stars out of 5.