Against All Odds
Snake Eyes is a Guilty Pleasure

I know I'm going to get nailed for this. Months from now, people will be asking me why I liked this movie so much -- and I'm just going to have to shrug and smile. Snake Eyes, the new movie by director Brian De Palma is a guilty pleasure with the right mix of snappy dialogue, perfect casting, and shameless in-your-face directing. You'll either love it or hate it.

Snake Eyes casts Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage as Ricky Santoro, a crooked Atlantic City cop with his finger in a number of pies. In addition to shaking down the local drug suppliers and gambling on the fights, he has a penchant for women -- despite his faithful wife and mistress. Regardless of his reputation, he is instantly likeable.

It's the night of a championship fight as a hurricane rages up the Eastern seaboard. The Secretary of Defense (Joel Fabiani) has decided to attend the bout, guarded by one of Ricky's old childhood pals, Maj. Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise, last seen on the small screen in TNT's "George Wallace").

During the fight, the Secretary is assassinated. It looks like Ricky's friend could be in trouble for dereliction of duty if the whole investigation can't be wrapped up nice and neat before the FBI arrive. With a fervor uncharacteristic of his nature, Ricky races around the auditorium, casino, and hotel to unlock this mystery.

To his credit, De Palma uses some stellar cinematography to give the audience a sense of the immediacy of the danger. Unfortunately, he is also shameless in the same regard. Every cliché including thunder rumbling, shadows on the walls, blood on the money, etc. is used in a hit-you-over-the-head style of filmmaking. Oddly enough, it works for De Palma. No, it's never subtle, but it is a heck of a lot of fun.

Even though the story is grossly predictable (and a victim of too much information given during the previews) there are still moments when De Palma manages to make the audience wonder about his characters. In an outstanding performance by Cage, Ricky seems to be torn by his greedy nature and his desire to do right. When he finally meets the mysterious Julia Costello (Carla Gugino) he shows an unwillingness to believe her story because of its implications. For a few minutes, the audience is riveted, wondering what Ricky will do next.

There are moments of awkward performances, and one or two pieces of dialogue that are hard to swallow. But for every bad piece, there are two moments in memory which bring a smile -- and most have to do with Ricky's irreverent nature. Snake Eyes may not be a masterpiece of motion picture making, but Ricky is such a compelling character it makes a worthwhile watch.

MY RATING: 7 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 99 min.

Against All Odds Snake Eyes is a Guilty Pleasure

Against All Odds
Snake Eyes is a Guilty Pleasure