The joy of having a Sky+ box is that all of those niggling movies you've waited ages to see, you can now record and watch at your leisure. And this is another one that has somehow remained on my To See list, although I'd be lying if I said that I could live without it. Still, it would be a shame to let precious hard disk space go to waste so I indulged myself with this glossy, too-clever-by-half thriller from one of Hollywood's great directors. And in spite of its lead actor tearing his way through the film like a whirling dervish, I still managed to enjoy it.
On a dark and stormy night in Atlantic City, dirty cop Ricky Santoro (Nicolas Cage) is present at the last big fight being held at a casino before demolition. With his military friend Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise) by his side, Santoro is witness to the assassination of Defence Secretary Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani) and takes it upon himself to solve the case - seeing as the TV cameras are already there, there's surely opportunities to be made. But as he digs deeper, Santoro discovers a murky conspiracy seemingly involving everyone from the glamorous blonde sat next to him (Carla Gugino) to the boxer flat on his back in the ring (Stan Shaw)...
There is plenty to enjoy in "Snake Eyes", the first of which is the opening scene when the chaos begins to ensue. Being a long, single shot reminiscent of Hitchcock's "Rope" that has all the detail and clues you'll need to solve the case offers you a tantalising chance to figure out what's going on. Sadly, the case isn't that hard to crack because the principal baddie is quite easy to spot which does take the edge off somewhat. The direction and cinematography is quite brilliant - split screens and flashbacks gel perfectly well with each other as the story progresses but don't feel thrown in casually like they were in "Duplicity". The story, despite the culprits being obvious, is a winner up to the very end which feels badly written in haste and somewhat at odds with the professionalism that went before it.
The biggest problem, however, is Cage who acts like some random coke head has been let onto the set and told to go completely nuts. Santoro never feels much like a hero so at no point do you start to sympathise or root for him. Most protagonists in most movies do their deeds out of a sense of justice or kind-heartedness but with Santoro, you only ever feel like he's doing it for the money. But aside from a dodgy ending and a loose cannon for a lead, "Snake Eyes" remains a decent thriller that I'm glad I caught. I'm surprised that it has come in for harsher criticism - maybe De Palma's reputation precedes him and people were expecting another "Scarface" or "Carlito's Way". "Snake Eyes" is no masterpiece but it certainly isn't as bad as some have said. It's a good movie but one that misses out on greatness.
On a dark and stormy night in Atlantic City, dirty cop Ricky Santoro (Nicolas Cage) is present at the last big fight being held at a casino before demolition. With his military friend Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise) by his side, Santoro is witness to the assassination of Defence Secretary Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani) and takes it upon himself to solve the case - seeing as the TV cameras are already there, there's surely opportunities to be made. But as he digs deeper, Santoro discovers a murky conspiracy seemingly involving everyone from the glamorous blonde sat next to him (Carla Gugino) to the boxer flat on his back in the ring (Stan Shaw)...
There is plenty to enjoy in "Snake Eyes", the first of which is the opening scene when the chaos begins to ensue. Being a long, single shot reminiscent of Hitchcock's "Rope" that has all the detail and clues you'll need to solve the case offers you a tantalising chance to figure out what's going on. Sadly, the case isn't that hard to crack because the principal baddie is quite easy to spot which does take the edge off somewhat. The direction and cinematography is quite brilliant - split screens and flashbacks gel perfectly well with each other as the story progresses but don't feel thrown in casually like they were in "Duplicity". The story, despite the culprits being obvious, is a winner up to the very end which feels badly written in haste and somewhat at odds with the professionalism that went before it.
The biggest problem, however, is Cage who acts like some random coke head has been let onto the set and told to go completely nuts. Santoro never feels much like a hero so at no point do you start to sympathise or root for him. Most protagonists in most movies do their deeds out of a sense of justice or kind-heartedness but with Santoro, you only ever feel like he's doing it for the money. But aside from a dodgy ending and a loose cannon for a lead, "Snake Eyes" remains a decent thriller that I'm glad I caught. I'm surprised that it has come in for harsher criticism - maybe De Palma's reputation precedes him and people were expecting another "Scarface" or "Carlito's Way". "Snake Eyes" is no masterpiece but it certainly isn't as bad as some have said. It's a good movie but one that misses out on greatness.