8MM
Starring Nicolas Cage and Joaquin Phoenix Directed By Joel Schumacher Running Time: 2 hours 3 minutes
(Columbia Pictures)
8mm, written by Seven scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, has an interesting idea which is ruined by Hollywood formula to become a bog standard murder mystery. Nicolas Cage plays family man detective Tom Welles, who is asked by upper class toff Mrs. Christian (Myra Carter) to investigate an movie found in her recently deceased husbands safe. The movie happens to be an mythical 'snuff movie', where the girl featured in the film appears to get brutally slashed. All Mrs. Christian wants to know if the girl in the film was killed or not. Welles agrees, and soon gets pulled into the seedy underworld of porn movies, with video clerk Max California (Phoenix) as his guide.
Although the 'snuff' industry hasn't really been examined in mainstream cinema, 8mm still makes a rather plodding thriller which just seems to be a bit sicker than most. The snuff movie within the movie is certainly disturbing, although the jerky camera angles and grainy image takes some of the shock away. 8mm has the problem of not wanting to shock too much, and apart from a few moments, most of the action in the film is nothing you haven't seen from another standard thriller.
The cast help towards the entertainment, apart from an hideous performance by the increasingly lazy Nicolas Cage. While he was fun and breezy in earlier films such as Raising Arizona (1987), ever since Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Cage has lost much of his acting talent and appears to be on autopilot, such as in the terrible Snake Eyes (1998.) Here, in 8mm, he's boring, uninteresting and has a dull monotonous voice. And in this overlong thriller, these virtues do not help keep the suspense up. Only when Cage is onscreen with the excellent Phoenix does the film start moving, as Phoenix is a true talent. His performance is a great break away from the gloom, and he's just purely enjoyable to watch. Catherine Keener is completely wasted as Cage's wife, although she delivers a far better performance than her character deserves. Her character, though, is hugely underwritten, one of the most wasted characters of the year. Also fun is Fargo's Peter Stormare as the wildly over the top snuff film director.
As this film is written by the person behind Seven, 8mm is filled with doom and gloom, and no-one appears to know how to use an light switch. Unlike Seven, 8mm isn't too clever, and the twist is pathetic and startlingly obvious when it arrives. Lacking the strong characters Seven featured, 8mm ultimately becomes uninvolving plot wise, and relies on the graphic scenes to provide any entertainment. But director Joel Schumacher, the completely wrong guy for the job, puts style over content, and while the direction and look are good, it's just not very disturbing. Schumacher also has no idea how to shock and audience, and though we are meant to be looking at the 'dark belly' of the porn industry, it doesn't exactly leave an haunting impression on the viewers mind, which misses the point. Also, the last 20 minutes are so hackneyed, so cliched, it's amazing to think it's the same film you're watching.
8mm is far from an success, a 'snuffed' opportunity. With a boring lead character, 'controversial' scenes that manage not to be controversial, and a director obsessed with looks, what could have been one of the most shocking films of the year is a dumb thriller. Ultimately, 8mm is probably worth renting on home video, unless your desperate to see what the snuff film within the film looks like. And trust me, the rest of the 2 hours are not worth it.
RATING=** OUT OF *****
A David Wilcock Review ©1999
DAVID WILCOCK david.wilcock@btinternet.com Visit the Wilcock Movie Page! http://www.wilcock54.freeserve.co.uk
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