Snake EyesCan style enhance a story? Can actors enhance a poor ending? Can previews for a film ruin an otherwise good film? These are all questions that are suitable to be asked to SNAKE EYES, Brian De Palma's complex thriller. When I first attended a theater and saw the previews for this film, I already knew the story and most of the surprises. This is a thriller that has many surprises, but ruins many of them by showing them in the previews. This brings up questions of whether previews are getting too overzealous, but that can wait for another time. The above answers are answered: yes, yes, and yes.
SNAKE EYES is a film that is about style and acting. Similar to the recent The Negotiator, it's all style over substance (thankfully, this makes a lot more sense). Brian De Palma is a director known for his wild and imaginative directing styles, but here it shines through more clearly than ever. Sometimes, though, his style overpowers the story and actors, and he himself becomes the star. Lucky for him that this film contains two great actors, and one up-and-coming star.
SNAKE EYES begins with a completely stunning 25 minutes sequence. Next to Saving Private Ryan's terrifying opening, this is the best of the year. The film begins similarly to both Boogie Nights and GoodFellas. Using one single take (unless there are hidden cuts, I couldn't see any), De Palma uses a Steadicam shot and follows Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) around a large stadium which houses fourteen thousand fans waiting to see the fight for the Heavyweight Championship. Now, one shot sequences are usually fairly short (around 5 to 10 minutes), but De Palma creates what is the most incredible uncut sequence in the history of film. Watching the scene, I didn't even notice that it was one take. That's the skill of De Palma (although it makes you question whether or not it was really worth the trouble). Afterwards, I realized that it was one take, and it made me dizzy just thinking about how much work had to be put in to get that shot.
Anyway, the film begins as Santoro is sitting down to watch the fight. Next to him is Major Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise) who invited Santoro to the fight. Dunne notices a beautiful, mysterious redhead sitting all by herself. He decides to go and investigate, while Santoro continuously gets calls from his wife. Another mysterious woman sits next to Santoro and leans over to talk to the Secretary of Defense, Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani). Just then, Santoro gets a call from yet another mysterious woman who screams that it's his lucky number. A shot rings out just as Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) goes down after a blow to the face and loses the fight. The shot hits the Secretary of Defense. Another shot hits Julia Costello (Carla Gugino), the mysterious woman talking to him. She is injured, but the Secretary dies. Suddenly, the place erupts in chaos as everyone scatters for the exits. Of course, they are all witnesses and they must be contained in the building.
Santoro is bewildered because when Tyler went down, the shots rang out, and Tyler looked up. Confused, he goes to the video room to look at replays of the fight. As you may have seen in the previews, Tyler took a fall and the opponent's fist passed inches in front of Tyler's face. He talks to Tyler and finds out that he was blackmailed to go down in the first round. Suddenly, a conspiracy begins unfolding and Santoro must discover who is all involved. Unfortunately, this is where the film's previews screwed up. In one of the biggest mistakes in the history of previews, we get to see many of the secrets that would have made the film more entertaining and pleasurable. Many people are comparing this film to The Usual Suspects in the amount of surprises and plot twists it contains. Well, someone should have told the producer of the preview that. The Usual Suspects was smart enough to rely on people's word of mouth instead of trailers.
Of course, that's not the only problem. The climax of the film isn't really climactic at all. However, it is more realistic and true to life. This film has such a build up that the final moments are quite a let down. Similar to The Devil's Advocate in that the ending almost destroyed the film, the first hour and forty five minutes are enough to give it a recommendation.
But enough of the negatives, let's look at the positives. The most obvious is De Palma's direction which overpowers many of the flaws. The film is a stylistic treat, and I was surprised that Roger Ebert gave it a negative review. This is aside from my review, but he gave The Negotiator three and a half stars while this one only one. Both are virtually the same: style over substance, acting over characters. Ahem... back to my review. De Palma is a gifted director but a poor writer. His imaginative camera use is stunning and the set pieces are visually impressive. One of the most interesting sequences has a camera passing over several rooms of a hotel until it finds the one it is looking for. But nothing tops the opening sequence. That one sequence was well worth the price of admission.
Nicolas Cage is almost always reliable, and definitely one of Hollywood's best actors. Here he revises his evil persona from Face/Off to include a more logical and sensitive guy. At one point, he stands up and shouts, "I am the king!" I immediately had a flashback to Face/Off in which he did a very similar thing. But other than that, it's a very good and original performance. Gary Sinise has a tougher job because he has a more down-to-earth character. Sinise delivers with a performance that matches Cage's. Together, they provide a creepy pair of mismatched friends. By the end, true feelings come out and strange situations arise. The biggest surprise for me is Carla Gugino who has the perfect makings for a star. She is one of the most attractive actresses I have ever seen, and she has talent (something Cindy Crawford knows little about). I wouldn't mine seeing her in more films. Stan Shaw is great as the heavyweight boxer, and Shaw is no stranger to boxing. He appeared in Stallone's 1976 Oscar-winner Rocky. Here, Shaw gives a great performance that is also probably the most emotionally developed character in the film. Also in the mix is David Higgins whom most will remember from the hit TV show Ellen. As for the mysterious redheaded woman, she's so mysterious that I couldn't find the actress' name anywhere. If you have any information, please tell me who it is! All in all, it's a top-notch cast adding to the screenplay.
And there's a problem in itself: the screenplay. De Palma helped write the story but it was David Koepp who was in charge of the script. It's rather sad that the great premise was destroyed by an illogical plot. The dialogue is sometimes cheesy, but for the most part intelligent. As for the end, it's hard to believe since everyone in the cast seems to end up in the same place at the same time. And, while the moralistic themes are there, they are't dealt with as well as they could have been.
SNAKE EYES is rated R for violence, language, and sexual innuendos. While it's not a great film, it does entertain for the two hours. The time literally flies by at an incredible pace, finally ending with a sad and disappointing conclusion (although it is helped by a touching coda). The acting is great, and De Palma's style makes up for more than enough of the pitfalls. If you don't mind a stylish film that prefers camerawork over plot, this is the film for you. And me, I suppose.