Snake Eyes

Directed by Brian De Palma, Snake Eyes follows corrupt detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) as he stumbles upon a massive conspiracy after a prominent politician is assassinated during a much-anticipated boxing match. It’s immediately impossible to mistake Snake Eyes for anything than a vintage De Palma thriller, as the flamboyant filmmaker kicks the briskly-paced proceedings off with an absolutely spellbinding single-take sequence that effectively (and brilliantly) establishes the movie’s central locale and myriad of characters – with the remainder of the picture suffused with an equally impressive assortment of stylistic flourishes that only enhance the picture’s persistently compelling atmosphere. It’s clear, too, that Snake Eyes benefits substantially from Cage’s typically captivating work as the off-kilter protagonist, and there’s little doubt that the actor receives able support from a superb periphery cast that includes Carla Gugino, John Heard, and Gary Sinise. (The latter is especially strong as Rick’s longtime friend who might just be holding a few secrets of his own.) And while the narrative admittedly does contain a small handful of lulls, Snake Eyes, which mostly zips through its 98 minutes, builds to a white-knuckle finale that’s capped off with an absolutely perfect final shot – with the end result a curiously underrated entry within De Palma’s mostly solid body of work.

***1/2 out of ****

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