Snake Eyes (1998)

In a similar vain to the recently reviewed Suspiria, Snake Eyes is a masterclass in 'all style, no susbtance' film making. It seems like a tag permanently attached to director Brian de Palma, creator of familar gangster films Scarface, Carlito's Way and The Untouchables as well as the the brains behind the more experimental Femme Fatale, The Black Dahlia and Body Double.

But boy does Snake Eyes begin in a technically impressive way with an opening, unbroken single shot following Rick Santoro (Nicholas Cage) through doors, up and down stairs whilst he talks on his phone and engages with people before he finally takes his seat inside the arena. He is at a boxing match after all. This technically astute opening shot allows de Palma to introduce the key players in the film, Santoro, his good friend Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise) and of course the arena itself; de Palma uses this shot to explore it's layout.

Shortly after the bout begins the champion Lincoln Tyler does gown (Tyler never goes down) and shots are fired. The man Dunne was in charge of protecting, Secretary of Defence Charles Kirkland is wounded. The arena is cordened off and a real-time investigation gets under way. We meet two women, a fiery haired woman who fled her front row seat just before the shooting began and a woman in a blond wig who converses with Kirkland again just before shots are heard. Their place in the story is gradually explained.

Santoro hears the opinions of the various characters in the film as explanations of the shooting are attempted. People lie, things don't make too much sense, but the more Santoro hears and the more camera angles he attends to, the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together more kindly and eventually it is revealed that a conspiracy took place.

But the film descends into ridicule. Not only does the suspense that it successfully builds fall flat with still around 35 minutes to go, but the ending is so nonsensically convenient. Successful character developments like the sinister side of Dunne's personality are abadoned as Snake Eyes stumbles to it's conclusion. It's all a shame really because if de Palma could use his hands to write as well as he can use them to man a camera then Snake Eyes could actually have been pretty good.

Rating: 6.5/10