Snake Eyes

SNAKE EYES (15)

D: Brian de Palma

Buena Vista/DeBart (Brian de Palma)

US 1998

99 mins

Thriller

W: David Koepp

DP: Stephen H. Burum

Ed: Bill Pankow

Mus: Ryuichi Sakamoto

Nicolas Cage (Det. Rick Santoro), Gary Sinise (Cmmdr. Kevin Dunne), John Heard (Gilbert Powell), Carla Gugino (Julia Costello), Kevin Dunn (Lou Logan), Michael Rispoli (Jimmy George)

Snake Eyes is a rather underrated thriller. It has many flaws, but it's still reasonably entertaining, held together with some directorial flair and clever camera & editing techniques rather than it's cliched & predictable plot.

Nicolas Cage, overacting hammily throughout, plays a corrupt cop who investigates the assassination of a politician at a boxing championship match, and finds there's nobody who can be trusted.

The plot itself is rather messy, with an ending which can be seen a mile off, the opening however, a 10 minute steadicam panning shot, is amongst the best you'll ever see since the days of Alfred Hitchcock. Brian DePalma isn't quite of the same calibre, but he does homage quite well.

5/10