Snake Eyes (1998)
Director: Brian De Palma Cast: Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, Kevin Dunn, Carla Gugino, Luis Guzman, John Heard, Stan Shaw Screenplay: David Koepp Producers: Brian De Palma Runtime: 100 min. US Distribution: Paramount Rated R: Violence, profanity
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
Quick! You're out of time, over budget, and there's no ending on your film! What do you do? Well, you think of the dumbest, most ridiculous coincidence that could never happen in any galaxy, and then you spend more money to film it with the futile hope that your audience will not notice how utterly stupid it is. Unfortunately, it turns out that everybody notices how stupid it is. But hope is not lost! You can now tack on an 11th hour romance between two people who spent most of the film screaming and running away from one another.
Actually, I'm just speculating. I don't know what Brian De Palma was thinking as he pieced together the last twenty minutes of Snake Eyes. Here is a film that starts off so well, and continues to hold interest well into its story, and then falls completely apart with what is perhaps the silliest ending to a good film I've ever seen. Somewhere out there, I am certain, there is an appropriate ending for Snake Eyes. But the ending that is present came inches away from completely ruining the film for me.
The film stars Nicolas Cage as Rick Santoro, a semi-crooked cop. We meet him on fight night in an Atlantic City casino; we know he's really happy to be there because he's smiling widely and shouting joyfully at every person he meets. He encounters a few of his friends, most notably his best friend, Kevin Dunn (Gary Sinise), who is a military guy escorting a senator. Well, a few rounds into the fight, the senator gets shot, and his blood is spattered all over Santoro.
It's now up to our obnoxious protagonist to solve the mystery of the murder. It seems so easy at first, since Dunn has already killed the alleged sniper. Soon, however, it turns out there's a conspiracy: a woman (Carla Gugino) had also been targeted for assassination, but she got away. The conspirators wanted her dead because she found out that US missile tests were being rigged so a new kind of missile could be released despite its lack of safety. And so on.
The only real problem with Snake Eyes is the existence of the last twenty minutes. Other than this rather conspicuous issue, Snake Eyes is a fantastic and intelligent thriller. De Palma is a visual genius; his style in this film feels fresh and original (and arguments that he's derivative of directors like Hitchcock don't hold water). He's a master with the camera, and the result is a film that excites you with its nearly uncontrolled energy.
Take, for instance, the first shot. This must be the longest steadicam shot of all time. It goes for nearly twenty minutes, from the first moment all the way through the assassination of the senator. The way De Palma weaves this is astoundingly smooth, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be to shoot a sequence like this. I also liked the way the assassination is shown from several different points of view; De Palma uses this technique to drop hints as to who the conspirators may be, which is an interesting trick.
Cage is a magnetic, eclectic actor, and he's perfect for this role. There's not a whole lot of acting beyond his personality as an actor, although there are character developments later in the film that give him something to do aside from his shouting. Sinise is also excellent, although I fear that he may be typecast in roles like this. Sinise has a way of making every line of dialogue convincing, with a kind of confidence that few supporting actors manage. Cage and Sinise work well together here, and the film raises interesting questions about the bonds and boundaries of friendship.
But it all breaks apart at the 80-minute mark. I'm not going to describe the climax, but you will know it when it arrives. It's the scene that doesn't make a shred of sense. And then we're given a minor-yet-overlong epilogue which is more depressing than interesting. Finally, De Palma force-feeds us a chance meeting that ends in a silly promise and an exchange of phone numbers. Don't get me wrong: I recommend Snake Eyes for the first two acts. It's just the wretched third act that keeps me from enthusiastically recommending what is otherwise a terrific thriller. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that someone clubbed De Palma and finished the film without his input, for I don't understand how a man with such good instinct in the realm of visual presentation could have conjured up a conclusion so profoundly dissatisfying.
**1/2 out of **** (6/10, C+)
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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