Snake Eyes
Nicolas Cage stars as Rick Santoro, a corrupt cop lucky enough to get front row seats to a pay-per-view boxing match in Atlantic City. He is also unlucky enough to be sitting in front of the Secretary of Defense, who gets shot by some sniper. But who did it? Why?
So Santoro and his close friend Kevin Dunne (not to be confused with the actor who plays a newscaster), played by Gary Sinise, work hard to unravel the mystery, to find out who is behind it and why. And yes, a massive conspiracy unfolds; people aren+t what they seem to be; twists and turns are promised.
Promised, but not delivered. I knew going in who the Very Bad Guy was; it+s that predictable. Follow the hidden Hollywood rule: in a cast full of mostly unknowns, the bad guy is most likely the biggest star who seems to have a redundant role. Even so, I will attempt to not give it away here.
The cast and director are game. The directing is fantastic, and the two leads do not disappoint. Which is all the more counterproductive to the film.
For example: Cage has a very good scene where he comes to grips with who the Very Bad Guy is. And he struggles. He knows this person, and cannot believe what he is hearing. And this goes on for a minute. All and well, except this is twenty minutes after the script reveals who the VBG is, which is about an hour after the audience knows. Nice tears, but you+re too slow, pal.
Another example: Sinise in one scene is walking down a hallway with a terrifying scowl on his face. When Sinise gets angry, chills run down my spine. His eyes bulge out, his arteries appear on his neck. Great. But the logistics of the situation would compel him to cool it off a little, to play it safe, to look cool but determined, somewhat like Kevin Spacey. He shouldn+t have to risk losing his composure to a certain character in the film, which could ruin everything up to that point.
And then the direction: the opening sequence is a stunner: we follow Cage around for about fifteen minutes non-stop, as he casually makes his way to his seat, somehow runs into every major character in the film, and then watches the fight. The fight is an essential element to the conspiracy plot; all and well, but we only see Cage+s reactions to what+s going on. Which is confusing, and which also cheats the audience.
There+s another scene where the camera pans above, playing God+s eye view through several hotel rooms. A wonderful shot. But so what? There+s no tension in the scene, just a voyeuristic excursion outside of the script. Did we need to see what was going on in rooms of extras who walked in off of _Casino_?
How about another scene, where Cage is walking towards where the Key Witness is hiding; and the killer is right behind him? Cage needs only to turn around to prevent his mistake. He doesn+t. Even so, the killer could only prevent such a blunder by hiding behind a corner, and then jumping out when the Key Witness is found. But that would make too much sense. Further, that would prevent the beautiful shot of having lightning strike, and the shadow of the killer, gun in hand, appearing before Cage. (DePalma likes this shot so much, he uses it twice).
I heard DePalma on a radio interview say that he isn+t that interested in plot as he is in camera technique and new ways of filming something. It shows. I+m happy to report that the plot moved along, and that the conspiracy had a few gems in its formula. But it+s the same old formula, over-hyped and over-played, repackaged but not fresh.
_Snake Eyes_ has both good acting and great direction. Yet this is the first time in a review that I cannot recommend this film _because of_ these elements, not in spite of them. It+s the screenplay, stupid.
Nick Scale (1 to 10): 5
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