(Brian De Palma, 1998)
In Snake Eyes, Cage plays a dodgy but decent cop, who along with thousands of others bears witness to an assassination in the middle of a boxing match. Cage snaps into action to try and figure out whodunnit. Unfortunately, Cage's best mate in the film is Gary Sinise, who though a sterling actor and a brilliant screen presence (someone should write a blog about him), is one of those thesps who always seems to play the bad guy. So while it's a pleasure to have Cage and Sinise, who plays a military top brass guy, together on screen, the whodunnit element of the film is a bit redundant.
Other than that though, I really enjoyed Snake Eyes. Cage is really good in it, giving a slightly manic, yet not unrestrained performance. Brian De Palma gives what might otherwise be a slightly by-the-numbers thriller a classy sheen. His opening tracking shot, which lasts something in the region of thirteen minutes and follows Cage around the labyrinthine hotel in which the fight is held is remarkable.
My mission statement voiced an intention to watch what I assumed would be a naff Cage film, a decent one and a 'leftfield' choice. I had placed Snake Eyes in the naff category, but I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a pretty slick, enjoyable and very watchable outing. Though with a combination of Cage, Sinise and De Palma, I'm not sure why I thought this would be naff in the first place. I guess it must have been the brilliantly tacky green and purple colour scheme employed on the DVD cover.
Cage Rage News
Great news Cage fans! Cage has reportedly paid off a significant chunk of his crippling multi-million dollar tax debt! Hooray!
What does this mean for Cage fans? Well, as a highly trained tax analyst and movieland insider, I believe there are pros and cons to this. I understand Cage's prolificness is down to him needing to repay this debt, so in the negative corner, the more he pays, the fewer films per month we're likely to see him in.
On the other hand, this could mean that Cage has more opportunities to pick more interesting scripts and has to do fewer take-the-money-and-run jobs. Maybe.
In other Cage news, check out this fantastic Avengers-Cage mash-up poster:
This comes via Matheus Candido (who I think might be this guy) and The Shiznit. The Shiznit are also responsible for this and are therefore brilliant people.
Oh and I bought my next batch of films: Con Air, Bringing Out The Dead and Wild at Heart.
