Snake Eyes Rating: Release Date: 19 August, 2003 Retail Price: $9.98 OUR Price: $9.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Nicolas Cage Gary Sinise Carla Gugino Chip Zien Complete Cast (13 total)

Snake Eyes Reviews

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Cage and De Palma carry thriller almost all the way to the end
Snake Eyes is a great thriller in so many ways. The story is genuinely interesting. The characters are easy to love or hate. The pacing is fast and keeps you interested. The director puts all of his greatest trademarks into full effect. The only problem with the movie is the ending. No matter how much I love the first hour and 15 minutes of the film, that climactic showdown really hurts the movies overall credibility. However, I try not to judge an entire film based on 15 minutes that I didn't really like, so I am still a huge fan of Snake Eyes.

Snake Eyes' story revolves around Rick Santoro, an Atlantic City police officer who is a corrupt, mean, uncaring individual. We are introduced to Rick at a big boxing match taking place at a casino in Atlantic City during a hurricane no less. The film's opening shot is simply amazing, and it shows why I love Brian De Palma so much as a director. The opening shot is one of his classic "long-takes." It lasts for about 15 minutes with no cuts, and it introduces us to Cage, his friend Kevin (Gary Sinise), and takes us all over the boxing arena. It is simply an amazing shot, and it could only have been done with a great actor like Nicolas Cage, who keeps his character alive, vibrant, and funny throughout the entire shot. Just totally amazing stuff. Anyway, the plot then gets really complicated, as an assassination takes place during the fight, and Cage starts his investigation into the events of the night. This is also why this movie fits De Palma so well. He is the best director that I know of when it comes to telling a single story from multiple, different points of view. The flashbacks in Snake Eyes are very well done, and only help to move the story along quicker, as the viewer gets more and more interested in what actually happened during the fight.

Sure, the ending could have been better, but I refuse to let it ruin the great moments of the film all the way up until that last 15 minutes. Oh, and make sure you fast forward through the credits for the one final shot of the film.

Snake Eyes
Brian DePalma's "Snake Eyes" is an original and complicated crime film that requires much attention and patience from the viewer. The movie is only 90 minutes, but occasionally feels longer than that and the final payoff isn't what you'd expect; but, overall, it's not to bad. Nicolas Cage owns the movie, however, as Rick Santoro, a flamboyant detective who's attending a boxing match in Atlantic City when the U.S. Secretary of Defense is gunned down right behind him. Instead of opting for a typical "crime happens, crime is solved" formula, DePalma does the perspective thing. We see the crime and then we see it from several other perspectives; when the pieces click in, the mystery is solved and now it just has to be dealt with. As far as twists and surprises, this movie doesn't have a lot to offer...But it is pretty interesting. Anyway, Santoro (who happens to be a crooked cop) is now head of a murder investigation with 14,000 eyewitnesses; So, the arena the fight is at, is closed down while Santoro searches for the people involved. Among the many suspects are one of the fighters, a mysterious woman in white (Carla Gugino, 'Sin City'), and Santoro's best friend (Gary Sinise); A high ranking officer. Believe me, this is a complicated movie. But, it's also got some very interesting dialogue and a hilariously over-the-top performance by Nicolas Cage. DePalma's directing is as good as it's ever been here (and yes, I know this movie came out in '98). I'd like to say that it's a great and very entertaining film, because it's definitely inventive...But, it's not. It's entertaining, for sure, but there are times where you wish it would just cut to the chase.

GRADE: B+


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