Brian DePalma can make some really great films like "Mission: Impossible" but he can also make some really awful disappointments like "Raising Cain" and this weak, little movie called "Snakes Eyes."
The first half of the film is awesomely written and directed, but, as soon as the cat is out of the bag (and that comes sooner than you think), the movie fizzles into a shockingly disappointing failure of a film. First off, the "real" bad guy is so easy to spot it's laughable. Second off, does that girl in the film ever really DO anything aside from standing around and looking like a deer caught in a set of headlights for 90-plus minutes?!! I never even got a name, but, then again, maybe she didn't have one. Really, who cares?! (In fact, DePalma might have actually thought the concept of a nameless "heroine" was a plus.)
What it boils down to is this director's overpowering urge to BE Alfred Hitchcock. Problem is, Hitchcock invented the style he used. DePalma's different in that all he does is use the Master's fifty year old methods (split-screens, real-time photography, passing through walls, etc.) that, by this point, have been imitated so many times that they don't really even register an impact on the audience anymore!
Oh, well. There's always that "Mission: Impossible 2" coming up, right?
The first half of the film is awesomely written and directed, but, as soon as the cat is out of the bag (and that comes sooner than you think), the movie fizzles into a shockingly disappointing failure of a film. First off, the "real" bad guy is so easy to spot it's laughable. Second off, does that girl in the film ever really DO anything aside from standing around and looking like a deer caught in a set of headlights for 90-plus minutes?!! I never even got a name, but, then again, maybe she didn't have one. Really, who cares?! (In fact, DePalma might have actually thought the concept of a nameless "heroine" was a plus.)
What it boils down to is this director's overpowering urge to BE Alfred Hitchcock. Problem is, Hitchcock invented the style he used. DePalma's different in that all he does is use the Master's fifty year old methods (split-screens, real-time photography, passing through walls, etc.) that, by this point, have been imitated so many times that they don't really even register an impact on the audience anymore!
Oh, well. There's always that "Mission: Impossible 2" coming up, right?