#6 Snake Eyes
Year: 1998
Director: Brian De Palma
MPAA Rating: R
Epic Co-stars: Gary Sinise
Running Time: 98 minsCage Time: ~85%
Cage Kills: 0
Cage Flip-outs: 3
James' Review: In Snake Eyes Nick Cage plays Rick Santoro, a highly annoying municipal police officer that any person not hopped up on cocaine wouldn't want to spend for than 5 seconds with; perfect Nouveau Shamanic material. The film starts out with Cage excited as hell about a big time boxing matching and getting to watch it with his "best friend" Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise) but things quickly go south as a very high ranking government official is shot and Santoro is left to decode several suspicious and somewhat nonsensical events that occurred leading up to the crime.
As with many great Cage films, relationships such as "best friend", "wife", and "kids" are thrown into the plot in an attempt to convey the idea the the characters are fully mature human adults, but they come off as somewhat 1-dimensional on screen. But let's be honest here, nobody gives a shit about that. We just want to see some fine Cage Mega-Acting, and we're in luck for at least 50% of the movie. While the middle half of the movie feels like a bit of a slump when it comes to eccentric Cagness, as the plot plows on and Cage is left in more and more precarious situations we see the Cage that we've come here for.
Snake Eyes brings a somewhat complex, well thought out crime scenario and some highly creative (yet poorly executed) cinematography to make it worth it's 98 minutes. As the film reaches it's climax, Nicolas Cage is in top form as a battered hero alone in the world with not a chance of survival. Unfortunately, not even some top notch mega-acting could distract from the horrific script that almost seems like a parody of so many B-rate action / suspense films that have paved the path to this point. Fortunately, anyone who has made it this far is no longer watching for the story, but watching to see Nicolas Cage transcend the realm of reality and entertain like only he can. I'm happy to say we have not been let down.
As with many great Cage films, relationships such as "best friend", "wife", and "kids" are thrown into the plot in an attempt to convey the idea the the characters are fully mature human adults, but they come off as somewhat 1-dimensional on screen. But let's be honest here, nobody gives a shit about that. We just want to see some fine Cage Mega-Acting, and we're in luck for at least 50% of the movie. While the middle half of the movie feels like a bit of a slump when it comes to eccentric Cagness, as the plot plows on and Cage is left in more and more precarious situations we see the Cage that we've come here for.
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| Nic Cage plays one of the most convincing loud annoying assholes I've ever seen. |
Snake Eyes brings a somewhat complex, well thought out crime scenario and some highly creative (yet poorly executed) cinematography to make it worth it's 98 minutes. As the film reaches it's climax, Nicolas Cage is in top form as a battered hero alone in the world with not a chance of survival. Unfortunately, not even some top notch mega-acting could distract from the horrific script that almost seems like a parody of so many B-rate action / suspense films that have paved the path to this point. Fortunately, anyone who has made it this far is no longer watching for the story, but watching to see Nicolas Cage transcend the realm of reality and entertain like only he can. I'm happy to say we have not been let down.
Movie quotability: 2/5
Plot Holes:- "You see where your hand is? That a FELONY!"
- "And that's what she was there for, to give you a boner. And you got one, congratulations you're human."
- Mystery chick is seemingly unaffected by her gunshot wound.
- SPOILER: Even though the cops learned about the murders the city still decides to use pillers with dead bodies in them.
CAGEamatic
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Cinematic
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|---|---|---|
| Skyler |
Outstanding
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Acceptable
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| Shauna |  |
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| James |
3.77/5
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2.88/5
|
| Martine |
!Enjoyed her Kindle in the Cage!
| |
This movie had a lot less Nicolas Cage flipping out than I would like, but nonetheless it was fantastic. It was actually a very well done movie from a cinematic perspective.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first scenes, in which we really get to see Nicolas Cage playing a slightly corrupt cop who doesn't play by any rules but his own, is shot in what appears to be a single take for about seven minutes or so. Its well choreographed, with several phone calls and a fast paced camera.
Its also where Mr. Cage told us that the plan was for her to give us a boner. And we got one. Boner.
About the only reason I was able to make it through this movie in one sitting is that my old lady was passed out on the couch after having worked something like 27 hours in two days with only 30 minutes of sleep. She was out cold and didn't care what I wanted to watch. It was just one of those sad moments when you look at what you have to watch next and you have snake eyes.
ReplyDeleteCage did a pretty good job playing a dirty cop and was very convincing, but maybe it just felt that way because of the terrible acting of Gary Sinise. Gary's most unconvincing scene was when he was pretending to be distraught and tells Cage he left his post. Yes, I know, he really was supposed to be pretending, but it just came off really badly.
The whole movie falls pretty flat, but not because Cage failed to deliver. I think James' review is dead on, so I'm not even going to mention that I don't agree with his plot holes.
My plot holes are bullet-proof on this one. SOLID!
ReplyDeleteSolid as a cement pillar.
ReplyDeleteI hate stuff like showing us the tracking tag and device early in the movie in an obvious move to make sure we'll understand what is going on when it gets used at the very end. The scene where it gets introduced serves no other purpose but to introduce us to the device. It's like the movie gets paused for 30 seconds while the director steps in front of the camera to explain to us what the device is.
I agree, the revelations were a little heavy-handed in this movie (although I enjoyed almost all of it except the end). It was kind of like an Ashley Judd movie in that way. We laughed a lot during the POV scenes--this must have been made pre-handicam, or else all of these people roll around on trolleys. Also, is it really a surprise that Gary Sinise is the bad guy? He always plays a devious bastard. Mainly because he looks like one.
ReplyDeleteReview X (I'll think I'll stop putting numbers before i mix them all up >_<)
ReplyDeleteSnakes Eyes is that film where Cage does whatever he wants, whith a kind of ok plot (somewhat interesting revelations), and Cage Factor really high (GO SKYLEEER GO SKYLEER, YEAH BABY).
A bit tired to write more stuff, so, yeah, Cage punches people for no reason, and he becomes mayor for like two weeks.
Grade:8.5
#57 Snake Eyes (1998) My DVD that I got at Big Lots for $2.04 in a Double Feature with Face/Off (1997) Rewatch. Still great!
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