Snake Eyes (1998)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers (WGA):

Brian De Palma (story) &
David Koepp (story) ...

Release Date:

7 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Believe Everything Except Your Eyes

Plot:

A shady police detective finds himself in the middle of a murder conspiracy at an important boxing match in an Atlantic City casino.

Plot Keywords:

Boxing | Conspiracy | Assassination | Casino | Murder

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Nicolas Cage	...	Rick Santoro
Gary Sinise	...	Commander Kevin Dunne
John Heard	...	Gilbert Powell
Carla Gugino	...	Julia Costello
Stan Shaw	...	Lincoln Tyler
Kevin Dunn	...	Lou Logan
Michael Rispoli	...	Jimmy George
Joel Fabiani	...	Charles Kirkland
Luis Guzmán	...	Cyrus (as Luis Guzman)
David Anthony Higgins	...	Ned Campbell
Mike Starr	...	Walt McGahn
Tamara Tunie	...	Anthea
Chip Zien	...	Mickey Alter
Michaella Bassey	...	Tyler's Party Girl #2
Paul Joseph Bernardo	...	Casino Security #1

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Philippines:PG-13 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Italy:T | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) (cut) | Singapore:PG (original rating) (cut) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14A | Canada:G (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Company:

DeBart

Trivia:

The ringside drunk says, "Here come comes the pain," a line also spoken in another Brian De Palma film, Carlito's Way (1993).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Richard is beat up by Tyler, Commander Dunne starts telling Richard about what it will be like if he doesn't go along with his plans. He says, "your life will fall the hell apart," when his lips clearly say "your life will fall the fuck apart."

Quotes:

'Ricky' Santoro: It isn't lying! You just tell them what you did right, and you leave out the rest!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 22 (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Sin City

A feast of visuals, but a famine of suspense.

Director Brian DePalma has always been excellent at letting the visual image speak for itself (like Hitchcock, with whom he is often compared). In "Snake Eyes", the juxtaposed and multi-angled images are captivating for a while, until you realize how unsuspenseful the story quickly becomes. Once all the key players and plot elements are revealed, the film seems to have nowhere to go and resorts to those hokey flashback devices where we see the events play out differently via each character's recollection. Cage and Sinise do the best they can with the material, but they lack real motivation, mirroring the film's lack of direction. This particularly hurts Sinise's characterization which starts out solid, then is set adrift mid-way through the film, and winds up completely contrived by the end. Overall a disappointment, but maybe not a bad rental if you are a Nicholas Cage fan.