Showcasing Nicolas Cage's immense talent for overacting in an annoying way, Snake Eyes is the kind of film you can watch without having your brain taxed too hard. This is a shame really as it's meant to be a suspenseful thriller with twists and turns a-go-go. The conspiracy itself is poorly explained with both sides failing to get their point across in an emotive, thought-provoking way.
Characters flit in and out without leaving any kind of mark on the film or raising any kind of questions and at times it gets a little difficult to follow who is on which side. The ending itself is also rather disappointing with little in the way of justice for anyone but Cage's character. So what seems like being a nice little whodunnit (and whytheydunnit) ends up being a bit wet all round.
De Palma's direction and editing also seems rather amateurish at times, none less so than in the climactic weather shots (the hurricane that is meant to be banging at the door ends up making no difference at all to how the film draws out) and in the 'lucky number' phone call (what's that about and what kind of clue did he get from it?). Then again, at least Cage doesn't do his manic 'shout every second word for emphasis' routine for the whole movie, just the first 12 minutes. |
