Snake eyes (1998)

I was watching this again recently, and I think I finally saw a few of the transitions within the long tracking shot at the beginning of the film.  Felt kinda obvious now.  Have no idea how I missed them before.  Hahahaha

"I looked at the fight tape, Lincoln!  YEEEAAAAAAAH!!!!!

It was a PHANTOM punch!  A little bad Hollywood acting, but the athletic commission might find it interesting.

And a second after you go down, an assassin fires.  Well that's some coincidence!  I guess they don't call you the "Executioner" for nothing!

AND YOU SIGN MY KID'S AUTOGRAPH!!!!!"

Saw this in the dollar movies when it first came out. I remember quite a bit about it, and seeing a really beaten up and almost unrecognizable Cage say "SNAKE EYES! YOU LOSE!" at the end is the one thing that stands out. I do love me conspiracy films, and this film has conspiracy down in spades. Or should I say Snake Eyes?

A brilliant trailer. A very good first act until that gunshot and outside of Gugino boobs its all downhill from there. DePalma just couldn't pull the bunny out of the hat on this one.

He's one of those filmmakers who just doesn't seem to get the right scripts.

The idea is cool and DePalma is a master Director but Koepp's script feels lightweight. It needed to be taken darker and sleazier.

Dude gives 150% in all his films, no matter what.

I'm a fan of DePalma and I kind of love that this film is essentially DePalma going full on DePalma. The script feels like an after-thought, something to facilitate all of DePalma's technical tricks. The film is a ton of fun, but it requires a massive investment due to the multiple perspectives and the ever unfurling plot and I don't think that investment is rewarded by the rather limp ending. I don't know if the proposed Tsunami ending would have been better, but it might have served as a better reward for the audience. Cage is a lot of fun, but he's perhaps a little too restrained as the film goes on. It would have been nice to have super-crazy Cage all the way through the film.

DePalma does fill the film with great little characters though, I'm particularly fond of the Mexican boxer who is apparently the most excitable boxer in the world. Watching him prance around the ring is a genuine delight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spike Marshall 

DePalma does fill the film with great little characters though, I'm particularly fond of the Mexican boxer who is apparently the most excitable boxer in the world. Watching him prance around the ring is a genuine delight.

When I saw this in theaters with a friend, we got a big kick out of that dude.  

Why didn't this movie work? Naturally, there are numerous factors that are always in play but I'd always chalked it up to the simple fact that this was written by the "King of Middling Returns", David Koepp.

I think even Koepp has expressed disappointment with the film, so who knows if anything was changed. 

It still annoys me that the original ending is nowhere to be seen since the whole film builds up to it, AND the characters talk about it later. 

This is one of those films where the parts are greater than the sum.  It is definitely lesser De Palma, but I still find it incredibly entertaining.  I really hope The Key Man (and Passion) gets off the ground.  The world of cinema needs Brian De Palma to return and stick around.