1998’sSnake Eyesis one of Brian De Palma’s most underrated movies. It was met with a mixed critical reception, which was shortly followed by its underperformance at the box office. Contemporary critics complained that the plot is too convoluted and the pacing is all over the place. But those are minor complaints in a movie that’s as hyperstylized and gorgeously shot asSnake Eyes. Every scene has something exciting going on, the camera is rarely still, and Nicolas Cage is always a joy to watch. But, as enjoyable asSnake Eyesis, it would’ve been a lot better if De Palma had been able to pull together its original ending.
Cage stars as Detective Rick Santoro, a crooked cop attending a boxing match in a casino in Atlantic City. Rick unwittingly finds himself at the center of a complicated conspiracy after a ringside political assassination. De Palma spent most of his directorial career paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock, butSnake Eyesmade use ofAkira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon effect,”with conflicting accounts of the same incident. Scenes are shown from multiple perspectives, always revealing new details (often contradicting old details) in this delightfully twisty thriller.
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How The Ending Of Snake Eyes Was Changed
In Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s documentaryDe Palma, the eponymous director outlined his original ending forSnake Eyes. The script culminated in a massive tidal wave crashing through the casino. However, given the extensive visual effects required to pull off this climactic sequence, it was scrapped in post-production and the ending was reshot. The ending that appears in the movie is just a tense standoff between the characters, which only cost the producers the actors’ salaries and the price of film stock.
The ending was changed so late in the making ofSnake Eyesthat a lot of the build-up and aftermath of the original finale were left in. The whole movie is interspersed with weather reports on the worsening storm as it gradually achieves hurricane status. Toward the end, an ambulance is seen driving by the ocean with a giant wave about to hit it. Without the original ending, this isforeshadowingwith no payoff. In the closing scene, Rick even mentions that he nearly drowned, something that isn’t actually depicted in the final cut. Not only would the original ending have madeSnake Eyesmore coherent; it would’ve better served the themes of the story.
The climactic flooding of the casino would’ve added a religious angle to the ending: God washing away all the sinners.Snake Eyeswas envisioned as a stylish, action-packed examination of a corrupt world beyond redemption. But, the way it turned out, it’s just a standard Hollywood action movie. It’s a fun and engaging andinventively constructed action movie, but it doesn’t transcend its genre.
Nicolas Cage’s Performance Is His Wildest
Cage is renowned for giving outrageous performances. He played a rockabilly hood inWild at Heart, twin screenwriters inAdaptation, a lovable kidnapper in the mold of Wile E. Coyote inRaising Arizona,he got into a chainsaw duel inMandy, and he played a terrorist who swapped faces with an FBI agent inFace/Off. His uniquely zany acting style reinvented what a screen performance can be. InSnake Eyes, Cage gives what is quite possibly the wildest turn of his career. From the opening frame, Cage dominates the screen. He spends the movie wearing a brown sport coat over a golden-yellow Hawaiian shirt, and his performance is just as lively and rambunctious and over-the-top as his wardrobe.
How Brian De Palma Copied Quentin Tarantino
In the 1970s and early 1980s,De Palma made his name with ultraviolent Hitchcockian thrillerslikeCarrieandBlow Out. De Palma took the narrative framework of an old Hitchcock movie and presented a blood-soaked modern version that wasn’t restricted by the Hays Code, which held Hitch back in the age of stricter censorship.Obsessionis De Palma’s homage toVertigo;Dressed to Killis his homage toPsycho;Body Doubleis his homage toRear Window. In the late ‘80s and through the ‘90s, De Palma started to branch out into new genres:Casualties of Waris his take on a Vietnam War movie;Mission: Impossibleis his take on a James Bondian spy caper; andSnake Eyesis De Palma’s take on a stylized Tarantino-esque thriller.
Snake Eyesis full of Tarantino trademarks, from nonlinear storytelling to the darkly comedic blend of graphic violence and quippy dialogue to an abundance of pop culture references. Rick sarcastically calls his friend “007” for having a homing device; someone else sarcastically calls Rick “Columbo.” Many directors were influenced byTarantino’s stylistic revolutionin the ‘90s, from Guy Ritchie to Doug Liman, but it was particularly interesting that De Palma borrowed from thePulp Fictionplaybook, because De Palma was one of Tarantino’s earliest influences. After De Palma inspired Tarantino to make movies, Tarantino was able to return the favor to his idol.
