"Snake Eyes" - A Winning Feeling Leads to a Weak Payoff by Homer Yen (c) 1998
Detective Rick Santoro (Nicholas Cage) is the kind of detective that, when you look at him, would seem to go out of his way to give 'law and order' a bad name. Sleazily dressed, taking secretive payoffs, and unfaithful to his wife, he actually aspires to be the mayor of his hometown of Atlantic City. But what fuels his days and nights are the pandemonium of fight night and the wicked atmosphere of Atlantic City. And wicked it is for an assassination is about to take place.
But Detective Santoro is no slouch when it comes to his keen sense of observation. What's so suspicious about that voluptuous red-haired girl? How did a drunk get a front-row seat? Did the heavily-favored heavyweight boxer just take a fall? Who was that woman with the wig?
To piece together the events that occur up to the shooting, he questions several people. Each describes their own version, and we relive their moments through flashbacks. I liked this form of storytelling which allowed the audience to view a familiar situation from different points of view. After some nifty detective work, Santoro focuses in on one person that could hold the key to this investigation and he begins to comb the arena and the adjacent casino in hopes of find that one important witness. Santoro is joined in his search by his good friend, Kevin Dunne (Gary Senise). Dunne was on the security force assigned to protect the victim of the assassination. He also wants to locate this witness to ask some questions...maybe. Santoro discovers some hard-to-swallow truths and has to choose whether to continue to help or not. The premise is interesting, but even after a mild revelation that should send the movie into high-gear, it actually begins to slow down at an incredible rate.
"Snake Eyes" shows flashes of brilliant sequences like the opening 10 minutes that focuses on Cage and his every nuance (from talking on his cell phone and using call waiting to switch between his wife and girlfriend to shaking down a thug so that he can take his money and bet on the fight). There are some neat ideas such as the witness that loses her glasses and must run for her life virtually blind. I also enjoyed Senise's touch of bottled anxiety. He projects this delicious mix of calm and brewing franticness. But like throwing dice, the payoff happens only now and then. Here's a movie that starts off with a thrill, but ultimately winds up leaving a bad taste in your mouth. You keep hoping that you'll re-experience some of the excitement that you first tasted. But it only seems to get worse. What really struck me as odd (and almost a crime) was that after all of the thought that went into the structure of the story and after all of the good dialogue that was exchanged between Senise and Cage, the denouement seemed like a haphazard happenstance. I liked enough of it to give it a marginal recommendation, but you're probably better off taking a chance with another movie.
Grade: B-
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