"8MM" starts off strong but implodes at the end, unfortunately defeating the credit most of the film offers.
Nicholas Cage plays Tom Welles, a Private Investigator hired by the widow of an industrial magnate (Myra Carter) and her lawyer (Anthony Heald) to examine if a "snuff" film found in her late husband's safe is real. The snuff is terrifying; it features a man in a leather mask stabbing a young teen (Jenny Powell), who has been reported missing. In order to discover the truth, Welles must enlist aid from Max California (Joaquin Phoenix), a porn store clerk, as they travel through the depths of human perversion and encounter villains in the "alternative" porn industry, including Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare), Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini), and Machine (Christopher Bauer), a twisted S&M fetish killer.
Max California is by far the most interesting character in "8MM." Both the script and Phoenix's acting allow the audience to peer into the mind of the smut store worker, whom we sympathize with because he is good comic relief and a lonely type, working in this wasteland only to support his unsuccessful music career. Max delivers some lines expressing how the pornography industry lured him into this hell and how it is impossible to escape. In fact, Max upstages Cage's detective Welles, who is possibly the most boring person in the film. The script provides no back-story or personality for our protagonist, nor any insights into his mind. Welles's only redemption is Cage's able acting.
Another great role is that of Machine, a psycho who wears a crude leather mask. Before we learn anything about Machine, he makes a fascinating maniac. Is he an evil freak with a mental illness? Is he a seemingly everyday man with a split personality? Either way, Machine is an ominous monster. Then, the screenplay goes so far as to ruin our intrigue. Rather than leave his identity to the imagination, we actually get to see Machine for who he really is. In an anti-climatic fight for life, the haunting mask is removed, accompanied with cartoonish, moronic dialogue that was intended to be witty. The revelation of Machine for who he really was is intended to be ironic and surprising, but this cliched scene was so not clever that I felt a surge of disappointment and anger at how "8MM" had degraded since it began.
"8MM" mainly succeeds at presenting a disturbing, sickening tour through the corrupted minds of pornography addicts. Welles and Max actually go to a secret subterranean dungeon where illegal porn trade is dealt. Stunning and horrifying are two adjectives that describe this culture of filth. Almost every type of sex is produced and purchased here: bestiality, child porn, mutilation, fake and gory snuff, hermaphrodites, brutal S&M, etc. In one scene, several men masturbate to a female doctor, breasts exposed, stabbing a man in the buttocks with a syringe. A blow to one's mind and stomach are packaged into this film. It's overwhelming to realize that in the chasms of civilized human society, there are a few vile minds who resort to this abhorrent "entertainment" for pleasure.
However, all of this powerful terror collapses in the last 45 minutes. All the villains come together against Welles in an over-the-top, half-witted battle with lame, corny gothic overtones. Everyone hugely overacts this scene, most noticeably Peter Stormare's Dino Velvet who has some cheesy lines to deliver ("Kill them, Machine! Kill them all!). Also, one person's appearance as an adversary is not the least bit shocking. In fact, the first time this character was introduced I said to myself, "He's a bad guy." This big rendezvous, no matter how poorly executed, should have ended the film. Instead, Welles runs away to his house rather than killing the unarmed bad guys. When the screenplay finally calls upon our protagonist to wrap up the movie, your interest has already faltered because the film should have ended 20 minutes ago. There's once scene when Welles has a killer tied up. The good guy has a gun, the bad guy is helpless. During this episode, the killer incessantly and obnoxiously explodes into outbursts of bloodthirsty insults about his killing of an innocent. Welles is being tortured by the taunts, but he doesn't shoot the murderer. What he does is runs to his car and moans. This is a perfect example of painfully stupid false endings "8MM" offers.
Eventually, the phony conclusions, over-acting, naïve showdowns, predictability, and boring personas bring "8MM" down.
Nicholas Cage plays Tom Welles, a Private Investigator hired by the widow of an industrial magnate (Myra Carter) and her lawyer (Anthony Heald) to examine if a "snuff" film found in her late husband's safe is real. The snuff is terrifying; it features a man in a leather mask stabbing a young teen (Jenny Powell), who has been reported missing. In order to discover the truth, Welles must enlist aid from Max California (Joaquin Phoenix), a porn store clerk, as they travel through the depths of human perversion and encounter villains in the "alternative" porn industry, including Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare), Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini), and Machine (Christopher Bauer), a twisted S&M fetish killer.
Max California is by far the most interesting character in "8MM." Both the script and Phoenix's acting allow the audience to peer into the mind of the smut store worker, whom we sympathize with because he is good comic relief and a lonely type, working in this wasteland only to support his unsuccessful music career. Max delivers some lines expressing how the pornography industry lured him into this hell and how it is impossible to escape. In fact, Max upstages Cage's detective Welles, who is possibly the most boring person in the film. The script provides no back-story or personality for our protagonist, nor any insights into his mind. Welles's only redemption is Cage's able acting.
Another great role is that of Machine, a psycho who wears a crude leather mask. Before we learn anything about Machine, he makes a fascinating maniac. Is he an evil freak with a mental illness? Is he a seemingly everyday man with a split personality? Either way, Machine is an ominous monster. Then, the screenplay goes so far as to ruin our intrigue. Rather than leave his identity to the imagination, we actually get to see Machine for who he really is. In an anti-climatic fight for life, the haunting mask is removed, accompanied with cartoonish, moronic dialogue that was intended to be witty. The revelation of Machine for who he really was is intended to be ironic and surprising, but this cliched scene was so not clever that I felt a surge of disappointment and anger at how "8MM" had degraded since it began.
"8MM" mainly succeeds at presenting a disturbing, sickening tour through the corrupted minds of pornography addicts. Welles and Max actually go to a secret subterranean dungeon where illegal porn trade is dealt. Stunning and horrifying are two adjectives that describe this culture of filth. Almost every type of sex is produced and purchased here: bestiality, child porn, mutilation, fake and gory snuff, hermaphrodites, brutal S&M, etc. In one scene, several men masturbate to a female doctor, breasts exposed, stabbing a man in the buttocks with a syringe. A blow to one's mind and stomach are packaged into this film. It's overwhelming to realize that in the chasms of civilized human society, there are a few vile minds who resort to this abhorrent "entertainment" for pleasure.
However, all of this powerful terror collapses in the last 45 minutes. All the villains come together against Welles in an over-the-top, half-witted battle with lame, corny gothic overtones. Everyone hugely overacts this scene, most noticeably Peter Stormare's Dino Velvet who has some cheesy lines to deliver ("Kill them, Machine! Kill them all!). Also, one person's appearance as an adversary is not the least bit shocking. In fact, the first time this character was introduced I said to myself, "He's a bad guy." This big rendezvous, no matter how poorly executed, should have ended the film. Instead, Welles runs away to his house rather than killing the unarmed bad guys. When the screenplay finally calls upon our protagonist to wrap up the movie, your interest has already faltered because the film should have ended 20 minutes ago. There's once scene when Welles has a killer tied up. The good guy has a gun, the bad guy is helpless. During this episode, the killer incessantly and obnoxiously explodes into outbursts of bloodthirsty insults about his killing of an innocent. Welles is being tortured by the taunts, but he doesn't shoot the murderer. What he does is runs to his car and moans. This is a perfect example of painfully stupid false endings "8MM" offers.
Eventually, the phony conclusions, over-acting, naïve showdowns, predictability, and boring personas bring "8MM" down.