Snake Eyes
by Brian De Palma
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carla Gugino, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Nicolas Cage, Stan ShawDirector: Brian De Palma
Cinematographer: Stephen H. Burum
Producer: Brian De Palma
Writer: Brian De Palma
Producer: Chris Soldo
Producer: Jeff Levine
Producer: Louis A. Stroller
Writer: David Koepp
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-02-16
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Snake Eyes
Movie Review: De Palma Rolled A Classic Noir Thriller!
Summary: 5 Stars
Personally I think "Snake Eyes" is a superior film! Sorry that most just don't "get" De Palma. He doesn't make films for the Academy worshipping crowds. He makes actual works of art. De Palma doesn't make movies for critics either. Oh, sure, De Palma is 'flawed', but so are most, if not all, true artists. But, his 'flaws' mostly only show when he is working for major studio "Hollywood" films. But even then he is so far superior to anything general generic Hollywood can dish out, in my opinion. He is one of the last of a rare dying breed of filmmaker, in the same vein, style, and category of the likes of Godard, Felini, Antonioni, Lelouch, Kubrick, Hitchcock, Welles, Wilder, Bergman, and such. To truly "get" him and appreciate him, one must realize that his films go far beyond mere "storytelling" in the conventional sense, not making the typical plot-driven drivel, but visual feasts, that stun the senses, and tells stories visually, with his camera movement and style. And, "Snake Eyes" is one of those type of films, where the 'story' is in the camera movements, not necessarily the script.
Keeping in check with so many common themes that have run consistently throughout De Palma's career (the trouble with the double, betrayal, conspiracy, etc), De Palma wastes no time taking viewers inside his noirish conspiracy thriller set in Atlantic City during a hurricane. His opening shot flows for over 15 minutes, uninterrupted, introducing every character you need to know in that short time frame. He interweaves between TV point of view to the actual casino in record breaking time, and in breathtaking fashion.
Between the very first shot of the politician and his entourage, including two powerful characters in the film played by Gary Sinise as Kevin Dunne, a political figure played by John Heard, Nicolas Cage as Rick Santoro, perfectly cast as an over the top cop on the make, a sleazy news reporter (played by Kevin Dunn), a bookie that owes Santoro a dept (played by Louis Guzman), the boxer Lincoln Tyler (played by Stan Shaw), his promoter, and everybody else involved in the 'conspiracy', as well as everything you need to know about the story, whether seen or heard, are all shown to the viewer in that short time span.
And, De Palma employs so many terrific camera angles and devices and tricks, that the film should be kept in a film school vault and studied every year for the next couple of decades.
From a mysterious redheaded woman to a blonde who is revealed to be a brunette with a wig on (played by Carla Gugino), from following a bloody hundred dollar bill to a ruby red ring, De Palma sets us on the coarse, working from a great script by David Koep (who scripted "Mission: Impossibe" and "Carlito's Way"), putting things right before your very eyes, and/or in your ears, just to have you questioning everything and everyone you see on screen.
And, the dark humor/irony is delicious! Especially when Rick receives a phone call from a show girl, saying she's his lucky number seven right as the assasination takes place.
The slogan "Believe everything except your eyes" was a perfect tag line for this 1998 classic psychological mystery, noirish conspiracy thriller from the Master of Suspense. Because, after the film is over, and you know the way the plot turned out, then go back and view it again, you see that De Palma shows everything you need to see in the first 15 minutes of the film, and it's all right in front of your very eyes!
And, be sure to watch this film all the way until you see the words "The End" pop up to know just how sinister this story really is. Hint: A ruby red ring in stone.?.?.
And, when De Palma returns his camera back outside the arena, and the storm is raging, thus is the build up to a very awesome climatic scene in what is already established as a VERY noirish story/film.
Awesome! I would rate it a LOT higher than just 5 stars if possible.
Brian De Palma really hit a solid homerun for his fans with this classic, exposing just how evil, ugly, and sinister the world of Atlantic City really is.
And, the song at the end of the film By Mercedes Brooks, called "Sin City" is awesome, and the lyrics recap the story of the film.
Definitely the best film Nicolas Cage has EVER been lucky enough to be cast in, and his best performance by far!
Highly recommended! Thank you.
Summary of Snake Eyes
Brian De Palma's 1998 thriller is largely an exercise in airing out his orchestral, oversized visual style (think of his Blowout, Body Double, or Raising Cain) for the heck of it. The far-fetched story features Nicolas Cage as a crooked police detective attending a championship boxing match at which the Secretary of Defense is assassinated. The unfortunate Secretary's right-hand man (Gary Sinise) happens to be Cage's old friend, a fact that complicates the cop's efforts to reconstruct the crime from conflicting accounts--a directorial strategy bearing similarities to Kurosawa's Rashomon. The outrageousness of the scenario essentially gives De Palma permission to construct a baroque cathedral of spectacular camera stunts, which (he well knows) are inevitably more interesting than the hoary conspiracy plot. (The opening scene alone, which runs on for a number of minutes and consists of one, unbroken shot that moves in from the street, following Cage up and down stairs, and in and out of rooms until finally ending ringside at the match, is breathtaking.) The shifting points of view--based on the contradictory statements of witnesses--also give De Palma license to get creative with camera angles and scene rearrangements. The script bogs down in the third act, but De Palma is just revving up for a big, operatic finish that is absolutely gratuitous but undeniably impressive. Yes, it's style over substance in Snake Eyes, but what style we're talking about.--Tom KeoghSimilar DVD Movies
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