Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Carla Gugino, Stan Shaw
release year:
1998
film rating:
Three and One-Half Stars
reviewed by:
Bill Warren
Strictly from a sound standpoint, ‘Snake Eyes’ is one of the more
intriguing films to come along in years. Most good directors,
particularly those with big-studio budgets, avail themselves of
innovations in recording technology, but Brian De Palma is one of the
few who consistently uses the nuances of the track as a key part of the
plot. A major setpiece includes deliberate sound distortion, so that
later both the hero and the audience must decipher what was actually
heard and what has been masked by the roar of the crowd.
In the theatrical version of ‘Snake Eyes,’ the multi-layered sound was
a blessing and a curse. De Palma got us to look at--or rather, listen
to--the clues of his thriller in a whole new way. The downside was that
the technique caused the dialogue to become ever so slightly fuzzy in
places. This problem has been solved for the DVD, allowing us to admire
the effect while also clearly hearing everything that we’re meant to
comprehend.
‘Snake Eyes’ is set almost entirely on a single rain-soaked night in
Atlantic City, where crooked homicide detective Nick Santoro (Nicolas
Cage) is having a great time sitting ringside at a championship fight.
His lifelong best friend, U.S. Navy Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise)
is there as well, guarding the U.S. Secretary of Defense (Joel
Fabiani)--who is felled by an assassin’s bullet an instant after the
knockout punch is thrown. Worried that his pal Kevin will be hung out
to dry for failing to prevent the shooting, Rick swings into action,
but the situation is not what he imagines it to be.
Writer David Koepp, who co-authored the story with De Palma, and actor
Cage both get points for putting a stronger character arc than usual
into the thriller. We can guess what Nick will do, but his transitions
are a lot sharper and crankier than what the genre ordinarily allows.
Nick gets positively vitriolic when he has to do the right thing, and
Cage is at his most entertaining when he’s complaining.
Still, characterization takes a back seat to a script designed to
showcase De Palma’s visuals. Echoing the bravura tracking shot through
the club in Martin Scorsese’s ‘GoodFellas,’ De Palma follows Nick on
his initial rounds through the arena’s backstage area right into the
seating area, seemingly without cutting away from mid-Chapter 1 through
mid-Chapter 3, for approximately 11 minutes. (Those who want to check
out where the cuts are lurking should use the remote to run the
sequence backwards.) It’s technically impressive while adding muscular
dramatic energy, augmenting our sense that the protagonist, like the
camera, never stops to rest. The mob scene at the boxing match is
likewise accomplished beautifully, with masses of color and shifting
levels of sound competing for attention, becoming increasingly menacing
as we’re led to notice that all sorts of threats can be (and are)
hiding in the complex vista.
‘Snake Eyes’ starts to wobble a bit by the finale. Once the filmmakers
have had all the fun they can showing us how looking at the same scene
from a different angle can make all the difference in our perceptions,
they let the plot taper into something routine, though they do provide
a pleasantly ironic tag. Still, there are sights here worth seeing and
if you want to hear sound used as an active story ingredient, ‘Snake
Eyes’ is one of the few games in town.
more details
sound format:
English 5.1 Surround; English Dolby Surround; French Dolby Surround
aspect ratio(s):
Original Widescreen Aspect Ratio (exact ratio not given)
special features:
Theatrical Trailer; English Closed Captioning; Chapter Search
comments:
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reference system
DVD player:
Kenwood DV-403
receiver:
Kenwood VR-407
main speakers:
Paradigm Atom
center speaker:
Paradigm CC-170
rear speakers:
Paradigm ADP-70
subwoofer:
Paradigm PDR-10
monitor:
36-inch Sony XBR
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