Snake Eyes Studio:
Buena Vista
Starring:
Nicolas Cage
Gary Sinise		 Director:
Brian De Palma		 Regional code:
2		 Disc Format:
Single Sided, Dual Layer
Screenplay:
David Koepp		 Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1		 Anamorphic:
Yes
Year:
1988		 Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1		 Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Genre:
Thriller
Extra disc featues:
None		 Length:
94mins
   

Review of the DVD - rating: * *

Review of the film - rating: * * 1/2
This is Buena Vista's first European dual layer disc, and a thoroughly perplexing job it is too. Why on earth choose this, running pretty much a full three quarters of an hour short of the maximum single layer running time?

Well, the picture is very good, if falling below perfection - artifacts are there if you wanna sit way to close. The layer change is pretty much bang on the 70 minute mark, and is well chosen in a quiet passage - at least they got that part right. The sound, meanwhile, is strangely lacklustre, but I guess that's just how the film dub is.

And that's it. Still no extras, and no extra brownie points from me for introducing a pause in what chould have been a continuous film. But it's a minor gipe, and Cage fans will want this to swell the collection I guess.

 He just can't stop himself. Not content with the awesome 7 minute-long opening shot in Bonfire Of The Vanities, De Palma here doubles that length as we join Nicolas Cage for one eventful night at a big time boxing match. Director's ego aside, Snake Eyes is a better film than Vanities fortunately. Although all things are relative, of course...

The film blasts into life the moment that the Secretary of Defense, a bruiser fan apparently, is shot dead in the audience during the fight. Fellow cops Cage and Sinise, the latter in charge of security and having shot the sniper dead, have to unravel what went wrong. And unravel they do, since all is not as it appears. As it never is.

The best aspect of this is that the whole thing takes place over one night, adding a welcome sense of tension to the inquiry. Sinise is good as ever, and Cage fun and over the top as ever, while De Palma allows plenty of visual flair to spice up David "Jurassic Park" Koepp's script. This makes up for the fact that it becomes increasingly formulaic as it goes on.

But it's the film's third act that is the big surprise (don't worry - no plot points given away). Having overlooked several contrivances and conveniences as the story unfolds, the last 20 minutes are some of the unintentionally funniest you will ever had the sheer joy of sitting through, when Cage's performance loses it completely, along with any kind of sense, and we get to witness moviedom's most contrived and preposterous stunt ever. Snake Eyes is not so much a film that goes of the rails, as just plain explodes on the track.

Wiping the tears of mirth from your eyes, it becomes clear that this is a real wasted opportunity. There was an enjoyably tense thriller here, struggling to get out. But then again, it has to be said that if it were believable, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.