Snake Eyes - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Sometimes a great filmmaker plays out their clever bag of tricks too quickly. Brian De Palma was a master of suspense all his own. Sure, there’s the constant criticism that he pulls too much inspiration from Hitchcock, but he made some excellent films in his heyday. Sisters, The Untouchables, Blow Out, Carrie, Dressed to Kill - the man has some excellent entires in his long list of credits as a director. But as a filmmaker, when he trips up he can really stumble. Such is the case of 1998’s Snake Eyes. How long does it take for a film packed with an assassination, political intrigue, and personal betrayal to fall apart? In this case, about 45 minutes. 

Down on the boardwalk the who's who of anybodyis getting ready for a fight. There’s gonna be a rumble in the arena and everyone is going to be there. Local color and police detective with a severe gambling problem Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) has front-row ring-side seats thanks to his pal Navy Commander Kevin Dunn (Gary Sinise) who is doing security work for the Secretary of Defense seated just behind them. Shots ring out. The Secretary is assassinated. The fight is stopped. Now as the officer on the scene, Santoro is leading the investigation into the assassination. Picking up the clues about the shooter and a mysterious woman in a blond wig (Carla Gugino), Santoro is about to find himself caught in the middle of a deadly conspiracy he might not be able to bribe his way out of. 

So I love how Snake Eyes starts. The long “single take” (it’s actually several cuts cleverly blended together) is a beautiful piece of work as we get the lay of the land of the casino and the packed arena. We meet the flamboyant and very loud Rick Santoro with Cage going full glorious Cage. We learn all about his dirty off-the-books dealings. We even get the lowdown on his close friendship with career military man Kevin Dunn delivered by the always great Gary Sinise. The fight starts, the suspense builds, the assassination is thrilling, and the ensuing chaos is enthralling. All of a sudden we’re thrown into a full-blooded detective movie with Cage tracking down the clues, interviewing witnesses, and picking away at the threads of this conspiracy. Excellent stuff with a sharp script from De Palma and David Koepp. It's sharp for a while anyway.

At about the 45-minute mark, the film makes a big plot reveal and the whole show stumbles to the floor and never recovers. Rule number one of any detective film, the audience should never, ever be ahead of our lead detective. If we know more than the detective, it's just boring to watch him figure out what we already know. Because of one reveal, we’re suddenly thrust ahead of Rick Santoro and his investigation by a wide margin. All suspense is lost. The thrills are lackluster. The pace becomes sluggish as each new reveal is rendered meaningless. We already know the who, what, and why of our mystery so where and when the detective finally figures it out, do we still give a damn? And that’s to say nothing of the completely unnecessary epilogue that is just as baffling as the choice to reveal the conspiracy long before the audience was ready. 

Bonfire of the Vanities notwithstanding, Brian De Palma actually had a pretty great run in the 90s during his big-budget studio phase. Carlito’s Way proved he could make a better crime saga than Scarface. Raising Cain might have a pretty ridiculous “hand-of-god” ending but De Palma pulled a number of creepy performances out of leading man John Lithgow. It might not be my favorite of the franchise but his Mission: Impossible was a terrific exciting first entry in Tom Cruise’s ongoing cinematic marathon as Ethan Hunt. 

Snake Eyes just got away from De Palma, and in all honesty, his career never really bounced back. Mission to Mars, Femme Fatale, and The Black Dahlia were all films that should have been within his wheelhouse, but each one suffers from some fatal flaw, lacks inspiration, or is just plain old not very good. His latest films are at least watchable, but nothing of the stature of his best accomplishments.

I hadn’t seen Snake Eyes in a very long time; the theater might have been the only time I’d seen it as I don't recall any memorable home video experience. That 45-minute mark reveal always vexed me so I never really wanted to revisit it. And it still bugs the hell out of me today. My disappointment stems from loving everything about Snake Eyes up to that point, but after that, the film gambles away the audience’s good faith on a bad bet plot reveal.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Snake Eyes rolls the bones onto 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray set from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 with a Region A BD50 serving the 1080p needs. The discs are housed in a standard two-disc case with identical slipcover artwork. Each disc loads to a static image main menu with standard navigation options. 

Reportedly sourced from a new 4K of the original 35mm negative, the garish visuals of an Atlantic City cop investigating an assassination is captured in glorious 2160p Dolby Vision. Maintaining the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, the image is virtually pristine letting all of the fine details of each scene come to life. And really, this is a wild production. Made in the age where CGI crowds just weren’t possible, the big fight arena scene and the chaos after the shooting look marvelous as we can clearly see all of these thousands of extras on screen! Facial features, the costumes, and the production design all see impressive ranges of fine detail with a well-rendered veneer of cinematic film grain. Now for some shots, the grain can be a little thick, but some of those shots appeared to be optical zooms and others are likely results of shooting conditions of the numerous long shots. The Dolby Vision grade is well applied letting those big bright colors shine while offering ample highlights to black levels and contrast. Skin tones are natural and human. Blacks are deep and inky with nice shadows. Carla Gugino’s white dress shines nicely without blooming. Excellent three-dimensional image depth is notable throughout. 

On the audio front, we have a dual track option, DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0. I didn’t spend a lot of time with the 2.0 option beyond replaying some key scenes. It works alright on its own, but with the 5.1 track there, I don’t see any reason not to go that route. The 5.1 mix is big and expansive and captures the massive atmosphere of the casino and the arena beautifully. Dialog is clear without issues. The soundscape is nice and expansive giving plenty of activity for those surround channels to play around. If it’s the big fight scene, it sounds huge. If it’s an interrogation, there’s excellent subtle background sound and a raging storm to fill that quiet space. All around it’s an excellent track. 

On the bonus features front, Snake Eyes is somewhat thin. The only major item is a very informative and interesting audio commentary between Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. Now these two guys talk very fast, but they cover a lot of detail about the production, pull relevant quotes from old interviews with the cast and crew, and altogether deliver a worthwhile experience. But that’s par for the course for those guys. The Blu-ray has the same commentary but offers up the tried and true KLSC trailer gallery. 

4K UHD Disc:

• Audio Commentary featuring Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Theatrical Trailer

Blu-ray Disc:

• Audio Commentary featuring Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Theatrical Trailer
• KLSC Trailer Gallery
• Face/Off
• Dressed to Kill
• Blown Away
• Turbulence
• Out of Sight
• The Usual Suspects
• Ronin

So twenty-odd-some years later I gave Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes another shot. I was hoping that my initial disappointments with key plot reveals would have abated, but sadly they did not. I love how over-the-top and Atlantic City Sleaze Nicolas Cage is in the film, he carries a lot of the energy through to the end but he's just not enough to save it. I love De Palma’s craftsmanship laying out the initial setting and plot, but I can’t help but feel like the screenplay he cowrote with Koepp got lazy and played to action movie conventions and cliches instead of sticking to the exciting detective mold they initially laid out. At any rate, if you’re a fan of the film KLSC delivers an excellent 4K disc. The high resolution and the HDR grade let De Palma’s exciting visuals and production values thrive in 2160p with an excellent audio mix to match. Bonus features are a bit thin, but the commentary is worth the time. I don’t love the film, but I know it’s a favorite for some out there so at the very least I have to call this one Worth A Look

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