Snake Eyes (1998) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Nicolas Cage and Gary Sinese. Directed by Brian DePalma.
Snake Eyes is like an Atlantic City casino: a complex, gaudy array of neon and designs that mask the trappings for one very simple recreation - gambling.
Brian DePalma's newest thriller is a structurally complex, gaudy movie that overlays a flimsy and simplistic murder mystery.
As a filmmaker, DePalma has always been more technician than storyteller. To him the placement of the camera is more interesting than the placement of his actors.
And Snake Eyes is no exception.
Rick Santoro is an Atlantic City homicide detective. He's not above shaking down a drug dealer, accepting a bribe or cheating on his wife. He's not who you would consider cop of the year material.
Rick has front-row seats at a heavyweight championship fight courtesy of his oldest and best friend, Navy Commander Kevin Dunne, who is heading the security team guarding the Secretary of Defense, a guest at the fight.
During the bout, the secretary is gunned down. Santoro, to help his buddy, takes charge of what appears to be an open-and-shut political assassination.
Soon, Santoro is over his head, involved in a murky conspiracy involving defense contractors and weapons systems.
The entire affair really doesn't make much sense. It seems a lot of people went to a lot of trouble and a lot of expense to pull off a simple assassination. And why do it in a sports arena filled with 14,000 spectators? Aren't there any lonely back roads in the Washington, D.C., area?
DePalma's fancy camera work obscures the film's many lapses of logic and implausabilities.
For instance, where are other members of the Atlantic City Police Department? Could it be Santoro is the only one with the night off who could get a ticket to the fight?
And why does DePalma make a big deal out of Santoro's decision to seal the complex and detain all 14,000 spectators without utilizing the situation in any manner whatsoever?
And why doesn't DePalma take advantage of the Atlantic City locale? The movie is mostly set indoors, so it's as if the city was a random selection as a plot site.
DePalma uses a Rashomon-style story technique, showing the same action from different perspectives to advance the plot. And while it works, it also defuses what little suspense the film has to offer.
DePalma's overuse of his point of view shots, especially his out-of-focus sequences with his nearsighted damsel in distress, adds nothing to the proceedings.
As Santoro, Nicolas Cage is hyperactive. He seems to rely more on intuition and street smarts rather than intelligence to solve the case. And he really doesn't solve it as much as the weak conspiracy merely unravels around him.
His Ricky is gauche, cynical, but in his own strange way, honorable.
Gary Sinese is enigmatic and slimy as Dunne, while Carla Cugino merely squints as the whistleblowing heroine.
In all, Snake Eyes comes up craps for DePalma and crew. It's among this uneven director's weaker efforts.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or cbloom@iquest.net
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