I reviewed Con Air the other day and loved it. Carrying on my Cage-fest, I also put Snake Eyes on my watchlist. I’m so glad I watched it again as it’s a fantastic movie!
Snake Eyes stars Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Carla Gugino, Stan Shaw, Kevin Dunn and Luis Guzman. The movie is written and directed by Brian De Palma, with David Koepp writing the screenplay.
The Story
Set in Atlantic City:
Corrupt Atlantic City police officer Rick Santoro and Navy Commander Kevin Dunn join forces to investigate both the assassination of Secretary of Defense Charles Kirkland and the disappearance of a beautiful stranger.
Ricky Santoro (Cage) is a bent cop with a history. He at a casino for a big fight, Ricky knows he can make a little money betting. He is also there for his best friend Commander Kevin Dunne (Sinise), who there to protect a senator.
During the fight, the senator is assassinated, and Rick and Dunne have to investigate who did it. You either know the story or not. If you do, you know how good it is, if you don’t, you’re in for a treat.
The Cast
Nic is being Nic and he’s amazing in his. Ricky is the man, everyone knows him, everyone loves him and he’s a crooked as my uncle’s scoliosis. Ricky is fast talking and lies fluently. As I said, it’s Nic being Nic and he’s brilliant.
I’ve also had a soft spot for Sinise, he’s very underrated and, again, he’s great here. It’s good to see him getting his teeth into a role and see his character go through such an arc.
Just to mention, it’s odd calling a character Kevin Dunne, when there is the actor Kevin Dunn starring in the movie. Lazy.
De Palma
Brian De Palma is a film maker! What a catalogue of movies; Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito’s Way, Mission: Impossible. I need to have a lot of revisits to some of those movies.
Snake Eyes is one of his best. The story unfolds perfectly, the characters develop well and the entire thing is engaging.
Something else that De Palma uses, that is rarely seen these days is split-screen. You have a series of event taking place, but from two different perspectives. All of a sudden, the story is blown wide open and takes you down a different route.
The way that he directs Snake Eyes also manages to tell the same story from different angles. As Ricky investigates and listens to everyone’s side of the story, it all plays out perfectly.
You really don’t see movies like Snake Eyes very much these days.
Overall
Snake Eyes is a film, not a movie. It’s complex but easy to follow, there are twists and turns and the overall conclusion is satisfying, right down to the end credits and the last few seconds on screen.
The opening tracking shot tells you what good movie you are in for. It’s about 20 minutes, with clever cuts, but it’s really nicely done. There are even POV shots, again, a rarity these days. And that one over-the-roof-room-to-room shot…brilliant.
They really don’t make them like this much anymore and it’s De Palma at his finest, with a brilliant Nic Cage and supporting cast. You would be hard-pushed to find a better thriller.
