I had never heard of the 1998 film Snake Eyes when I recently tripped across it for free online. I paid little attention to the beginning of the movie, willing to watch it based on the strength of Nicolas Cage starring in it but not exactly grabbed by the opening scenes depicting a corrupt cop at a boxing match talking on the phone to his illicit girlfriend and then his wife and then shaking someone down for money.
But then the assassination occurs and he begins interviewing people and the movie suddenly got interesting. A good chunk of the rest of the movie is repeating the beginning of the movie but giving different takes on exactly what happened according to various people.
It was intriguing enough that I rewatched it, in part to pay more attention to the beginning of the movie. But also to see the ending a second time.
The film reminds me a bit of the 2006 Bruce Willis film 16 Blocks. They each depict a corrupt cop who ultimately decides to do the right thing for once in his life and they both make this decision in part because the life of an innocent bystander is at stake, an innocent bystander who knows too much and whom some other corrupt law enforcement official wants to off to cover up their own crimes.
In Snake Eyes, when the main character is being told "Just take the money like you've always done." he replies "I never killed no one." He is told "You don't have to kill her. Just tell me where she is and I will handle it." which is, in a sense, a somewhat willful misinterpretation of the statement.
Killing someone is a line he is unwilling to cross. Cocaine and bribes and illicit affairs are one thing. Murder is another.
The man trying to talk him into "taking the money" tells him it will be a bad idea to take a stand. It will thrust him into the public eye and, inevitably, they will go digging around in his past and find that he's done drugs, taken bribes and has a girlfriend on the side. He predicts that this cop will lose everything -- the girlfriend, the wife, etc -- and end up miserable.
The end of the movie is a brief montage starting with the good news that he is being awarded for his good deeds, followed by exactly what was predicted: The press hounding him about his cocaine use and other illicit activities prior to deciding to play hero because murder was a bridge too far for him.
The last scene of the movie is a meeting between him and the woman whose life he refused to toss aside for money as part of a cover up. He tells her he lost the wife and girlfriend and he will be spending "12 to 18 months" "upstate" (aka in prison).
As much as I enjoyed the movie 16 Blocks, the ending is probably the stuff of fairytales. The main character testifies, apparently does no time for his past crimes, stops being an alcoholic to drown his personal demons and now that he has atoned for his past, life is seemingly spectacular. The "innocent bystander" -- also a criminal -- gets to start his life over as well and everything seems hunky dory with him too.
In the final scene of Snake Eyes, a movie set in Atlantic City, the innocent bystander he saved tells him he really made a difference, she testified before congress and/or in court and things are being fixed. He tells her that hundreds of years ago, they used to put up fake lighthouses that lured boats to their doom on the rocks and then go out and rob them blind.
He says nothing has changed except that the lights (for luring people there to take their money) had gotten brighter.
But then the assassination occurs and he begins interviewing people and the movie suddenly got interesting. A good chunk of the rest of the movie is repeating the beginning of the movie but giving different takes on exactly what happened according to various people.
It was intriguing enough that I rewatched it, in part to pay more attention to the beginning of the movie. But also to see the ending a second time.
The film reminds me a bit of the 2006 Bruce Willis film 16 Blocks. They each depict a corrupt cop who ultimately decides to do the right thing for once in his life and they both make this decision in part because the life of an innocent bystander is at stake, an innocent bystander who knows too much and whom some other corrupt law enforcement official wants to off to cover up their own crimes.
In Snake Eyes, when the main character is being told "Just take the money like you've always done." he replies "I never killed no one." He is told "You don't have to kill her. Just tell me where she is and I will handle it." which is, in a sense, a somewhat willful misinterpretation of the statement.
Killing someone is a line he is unwilling to cross. Cocaine and bribes and illicit affairs are one thing. Murder is another.
The man trying to talk him into "taking the money" tells him it will be a bad idea to take a stand. It will thrust him into the public eye and, inevitably, they will go digging around in his past and find that he's done drugs, taken bribes and has a girlfriend on the side. He predicts that this cop will lose everything -- the girlfriend, the wife, etc -- and end up miserable.
The end of the movie is a brief montage starting with the good news that he is being awarded for his good deeds, followed by exactly what was predicted: The press hounding him about his cocaine use and other illicit activities prior to deciding to play hero because murder was a bridge too far for him.
The last scene of the movie is a meeting between him and the woman whose life he refused to toss aside for money as part of a cover up. He tells her he lost the wife and girlfriend and he will be spending "12 to 18 months" "upstate" (aka in prison).
As much as I enjoyed the movie 16 Blocks, the ending is probably the stuff of fairytales. The main character testifies, apparently does no time for his past crimes, stops being an alcoholic to drown his personal demons and now that he has atoned for his past, life is seemingly spectacular. The "innocent bystander" -- also a criminal -- gets to start his life over as well and everything seems hunky dory with him too.
In the final scene of Snake Eyes, a movie set in Atlantic City, the innocent bystander he saved tells him he really made a difference, she testified before congress and/or in court and things are being fixed. He tells her that hundreds of years ago, they used to put up fake lighthouses that lured boats to their doom on the rocks and then go out and rob them blind.
He says nothing has changed except that the lights (for luring people there to take their money) had gotten brighter.