![]() ![]() While it’s amusing to think that the canny orchestrators of such a conspiracy wouldn’t notice an overhead camera recording their every move, it’s also pretty ludicrous. Whenever a critical plot point is in doubt, there’s a convenient camera recording the “real” action for posterity. Appropriately enough for a movie that’s so keen on insisting that we can’t trust anybody, especially not our friends, De Palma treats videotape as the ultimate arbiter. There’s one of the problems at the heart of the film - the mystery is so very ordinary. The scene where he finds it is as cliched and tedious as the one that follows, in which the villains take Cage outside and beat the crap out of him. ![]() But just as soon as we learn her story, which is crucial to the mystery at hand, De Palma and screenwriter David Koepp lock her up in a little room while Cage goes off to look at some more videotape. The most appealing character in the film may well be Carla Gugino’s mystery woman, who’s just trying to get out of the building alive and return to her normal life. As his longtime friend and linchpin for the movie’s moral crisis, Sinise plays an underwritten part expertly but unconvincingly. Still, Snake Eyes runs out of steam well before the last reel.Īs a con artist who suddenly encounters his innate sense of integrity, Cage’s character is adrift. ![]() Now, to be fair, the ending of the picture seems to have been rather harshly edited at the insistence of Paramount honcho Sherry Lansing - a few lines of dialogue in the very last scene refer to an underwater climax that didn’t make the release prints. You’d expect De Palma to have a field day with that particular handicap later on, but it never happens. One character lost her glasses in the confusion surrounding the shooting, and her subjective point of view is represented by an out-of-focus camera. As is, there’s only one big “revelation” during the course of the picture - it comes way too early on, and a passing acquaintance with standard Hollywood thrillers will allow you to guess what it is just by looking at the cast list. If anything, I’d like to have seen De Palma do more with this particular gimmick. Thus, when you see an action occur on screen, you have to consider the position of the camera-narrator in evaluating whether you’re seeing an accurate representation of the action. At its best, it’s an amped-up take on Rashomon, Kurosawa’s essential introduction of the subjective camera into cinema vocabulary - that is, the camera represents a point of view, and that point of view may well be at odds with what “really” happened. And for the next 20 or 30 minutes, Snake Eyes moves like a greased pig, as De Palma allows Cage to unravel the action of those key moments, from a variety of viewpoints.Īs a cinematic exercise, this is aces. Cage - who had several grand riding on the fight - seems alone in sensing that things aren’t adding up in the ring or at the crime scene. Meanwhile, a gorgeous blonde had shown up and handed off a document to the secretary, getting herself shot in the process. Sinise was off chasing a suspicious-looking redhead when the gunshot was fired, leaving Cage alone at ringside. The assassination takes place at the end of that long tracking shot I described above, and we’re seeing everything from Cage’s point of view, meaning we’ve got exactly as much information about the shooting as he does. A knockout punch and a couple of gunshots later, the secretary is dead. First, they’ve decided to check out the night’s championship fight. secretary of defense en route to an important meeting. Cage has hooked up with his pal Gary Sinise, a Navy officer in town on business, protecting the U.S. The movie takes place more or less in real time, with the action confined to the Atlantic City Boxing Arena and the connected casino/hotel complex next door. This is great, entertaining stuff - I gave the first reel an A-, and then watched the whole picture fall apart. ![]() It starts off with a virtuoso Steadicam shot that runs for 15 minutes or so (although I’m certain there are blind edits during whip pans at various moments), indulging itself in Nicolas Cage’s motormouthed performance as a corrupt cop who’s about to become point man at a murder scene. If you were to review Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes in just one word, it would have to be the sound of air being let out of a balloon: Pfffffffft. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |