A quick glance back at my Oscars archives will reveal that Snake Eyes wasn't even nominated for a Best Editing Academy Award in 1998, which is a sad, ridiculous omission. This might be because the ending is famously bad, but for all of the film's many faults, the mystery portion of the movie is crafted together with such directing and editing skill that it's a travesty that it should have been so overlooked. Of particular note is the movie's uninterrupted first shot. I don't know how long it is exactly, but it goes on for several minutes, which is an enormously difficult thing to pull off. It requires massive amounts of planning and preparation, and they pulled it off brilliantly here, reminding me of similar shots in GoodFellas, Boogie Nights, and The Player. But the real problem with the movie is that it gives us 90 minutes of an exciting thriller and then caves in to a cheap, contrived ending that only calls more attention to itself by coming on the heels of such an otherwise good movie.
Brian de Palma's previous film was the brilliant remake of Mission: Impossible, and while the action and pace of that movie were both well-suited to the director's biggest talents, in Snake Eyes he has pulled out all the stops and given us a movie where every frame is packed to the edges with excesses in color, motion, gestures, and noise. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. In fact, for the most part all of the visual chaos only makes the movie fascinating to look at even as we struggle to figure out what's going on. But man, it's just too bad about that ending.
Nicholas Cage plays Rick Santoro, a detective and boxing fan who happens to be in the front row of a heavyweight champion fight where prize-fighter Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) is defending his title. Hurricane Jezebel is pounding on the outside of the arena as Tyler is getting pounded in the ring by an over-confident, wise-cracking challenger. A heavy hit sends Tyler down to the canvas and then gunshots ring out. The Secretary of Defense, sitting a few seats away from Santoro, is shot in the throat and the whole stadium erupts into a panic.
What follows is a multiple point of view presentation of the event, which shows us 20 minutes or so leading up to the gunshots and some time after, and then cuts back and shows the same time period but at different locations within the stadium. Santoro's best friend is Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), who is in charge of the Secretary's security for the event. Not a good job to have when the guy gets assassinated. Sinise gives a subdued and collected performance, especially when compared to the exaggerated excess of much of Cage's performance, but the problem is that he and Cage have not a scrap of chemistry on stage. We're told that they have been best friends since childhood, but none of that comes through in their limited shared screen time, which pulls the rug out from a scene late in the movie that is supposed to be powerful and moving. Sadly, it's not.
De Palma succeeds best in the way he presents the events leading up to the assassination from several different points of view, not the least reason for which is because we don't know which of them, if any, we can trust entirely, which makes the mystery element of the movie even more interesting. Stan Shaw deserves some credit for his performance as while he never for a second looks like a boxing champion, there is a scene in the ring where his eyes show a depth of sadness and remorse for what he has to do that might be the single best piece of acting in the entire movie.
An extra layer of realism is also added as the movie takes us behind the scenes of a major prize-fight, showing us what the boxers do just before and after a major fight and a little bit about how casino security is handled. There is another plot below the assassination involving doctored missile test results and a subsequent conspiracy, but it really serves no other purpose than to give a reason for the assassination, which itself drives the rest of the movie. But unfortunately Snake Eyes is one of those movies that is really good and then hugely disappointing, leaving you with a feeling somewhere between regret that the movie wasn't better and just feeling cheated.
Brian de Palma's previous film was the brilliant remake of Mission: Impossible, and while the action and pace of that movie were both well-suited to the director's biggest talents, in Snake Eyes he has pulled out all the stops and given us a movie where every frame is packed to the edges with excesses in color, motion, gestures, and noise. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. In fact, for the most part all of the visual chaos only makes the movie fascinating to look at even as we struggle to figure out what's going on. But man, it's just too bad about that ending.
Nicholas Cage plays Rick Santoro, a detective and boxing fan who happens to be in the front row of a heavyweight champion fight where prize-fighter Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) is defending his title. Hurricane Jezebel is pounding on the outside of the arena as Tyler is getting pounded in the ring by an over-confident, wise-cracking challenger. A heavy hit sends Tyler down to the canvas and then gunshots ring out. The Secretary of Defense, sitting a few seats away from Santoro, is shot in the throat and the whole stadium erupts into a panic.
What follows is a multiple point of view presentation of the event, which shows us 20 minutes or so leading up to the gunshots and some time after, and then cuts back and shows the same time period but at different locations within the stadium. Santoro's best friend is Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), who is in charge of the Secretary's security for the event. Not a good job to have when the guy gets assassinated. Sinise gives a subdued and collected performance, especially when compared to the exaggerated excess of much of Cage's performance, but the problem is that he and Cage have not a scrap of chemistry on stage. We're told that they have been best friends since childhood, but none of that comes through in their limited shared screen time, which pulls the rug out from a scene late in the movie that is supposed to be powerful and moving. Sadly, it's not.
De Palma succeeds best in the way he presents the events leading up to the assassination from several different points of view, not the least reason for which is because we don't know which of them, if any, we can trust entirely, which makes the mystery element of the movie even more interesting. Stan Shaw deserves some credit for his performance as while he never for a second looks like a boxing champion, there is a scene in the ring where his eyes show a depth of sadness and remorse for what he has to do that might be the single best piece of acting in the entire movie.
An extra layer of realism is also added as the movie takes us behind the scenes of a major prize-fight, showing us what the boxers do just before and after a major fight and a little bit about how casino security is handled. There is another plot below the assassination involving doctored missile test results and a subsequent conspiracy, but it really serves no other purpose than to give a reason for the assassination, which itself drives the rest of the movie. But unfortunately Snake Eyes is one of those movies that is really good and then hugely disappointing, leaving you with a feeling somewhere between regret that the movie wasn't better and just feeling cheated.