Snake Eyes (film)

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Snake Eyes
'Snake Eyes' film poster
Directed by Brian De Palma[1]
Screenplay by David Koepp
Story by Brian De Palma
David Koepp
Starring Nicolas Cage
Gary Sinise
Carla Gugino
John Heard
Joel Fabiani
Luis Guzmán
Music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cinematography Stephen H. Burum
Edited by Bill Pankow
Distributed by 'United States'
Paramount Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Buena Vista International
Release date(s) August 7, 1998
Running time 98 minutes
Language English
Budget $73 million
Box office $103,891,409 (worldwide)

'Snake Eyes' is a 1998 conspiracy thriller film directed by Brian De Palma, one featuring his trademark use of long tracking shots and split screens. It starred Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise and Carla Gugino.

Released in 1998, the film was written by David Koepp and De Palma, and rated R when released to theaters on August 7 of 1998. It cost an estimated $73 million to produce, returned $103 million worldwide and received mixed to negative responses from critics.


Corrupt, flamboyant Atlantic City police detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) attends a boxing match at Gilbert Powell's (John Heard) Atlantic City Arena between heavyweight champion Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) and challenger Jose Pacifico Ruiz. He meets up with his friend Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), who is a US Navy Commander working with the Department of Defense to escort Defense Secretary Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani) and Powell at the fight after a trip to Norfolk, Virginia. As the first round begins, Dunne is distracted by an attractive redhead named Serena (Jayne Heitmeyer) and leaves his seat, which is then taken by Julia Costello (Carla Gugino), a mysterious woman in white.

When Tyler is unexpectedly seemingly knocked out by Ruiz, gunshots ring out, mortally wounding Kirkland and grazing Costello, who drops her glasses and white wig, revealing her naturally dark hair. Dunne kills the sniper, and Santoro orders the arena to be locked down. Despite the lockdown, Costello escapes into the casino, covers her wounds in pieces of cloth from her blouse and disguises herself as a hooker in a stolen jacket. Santoro is however suspicious due to noticing that Tyler woke up instantly when the shots rang out, and after studying the fight tape, realizes the knockout punch didn't connect. Tyler confesses that he threw the fight in order to pay gambling debts, but that he was never told anyone would be killed, and reveals that he was paid to take a dive by the same woman who tricked Dunne into leaving his post. With the involvement of Tyler, Serena and the sniper in addition to the man who signaled Tyler to go down and whoever gave him the go-ahead, Santoro suspects a conspiracy and reveals everything he learned to Dunne. Dunne confesses that the trip to Norfolk was for a test of the AirGuard missile defense system, which Powell's company was backing. He deduces that the sniper, a known terrorist named Tariq Rabat, learned of the test and assassinated Kirkland in order to stop the sale of the system to the US government.

Santoro goes to study surveillance in order to find Serena while Dunne continues his search for Costello, but once they split up, it is revealed that Dunne is actually the fifth party and mastermind of the conspiracy. He kills the now-blonde Serena and Zietz, the man who signaled Tyler to go down, in order to prevent their further involvement. Dunne then enlists Tyler by revealing the truth to him.

Costello pretends to seduce Ned Campbell (David Anthony Higgins), a sleazy guest at the hotel, so she can hide in his room. Both Santoro and Dunne discover this at the same time and give chase, but Santoro reaches her and takes her into protective custody first. She confesses that she is an analyst who worked on the AirGuard tests and discovered that the results of the tests were faked; the system failed to work and she tipped off Kirkland to the deception. However, Dunne learned of her actions and arranged the entire conspiracy to kill both her and Kirkland. Santoro learns of Dunne's involvement and, despite his initial refusal to believe it, quickly realizes that his childhood friend is indeed the mastermind.

After hiding Costello in a warehouse, Santoro inspects the footage of a new floating camera, discovering proof of Dunne's involvement. Dunne confronts Santoro and confesses that his motive is to prevent any further attacks on US vessels similar to one where he had to witness several soldiers drown, then offers Santoro one million dollars for Costello's location. When Santoro refuses, Dunne has Tyler beat him up, but he still does not give in. Dunne plants a tracker on Santoro and follows him to the warehouse just as Hurricane Jezebel strikes the Atlantic City coastline. As a tidal wave hits the boardwalk, Santoro uses it as cover to rush Costello outside, where the police are waiting and witness Dunne opening fire. When captured by the police, Dunne realizes his plan has failed and shoots himself in the chest and in front of television cameras.

In the epilogue, Santoro is hailed as a hero by the mayor of Atlantic City, but the press soon uncovers his corruption and he loses his job, his wife, his lover and custody of his son before being arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison. Before reporting for his prison term, Santoro meets Costello on the boardwalk. She thanks him for his help, as Powell is completely restructuring his company and scrapping the AirGuard, saving the lives of many soldiers. They kiss, and Santoro promises to call her when his sentence is up in twelve to eighteen months. After she leaves, Santoro muses that he at least got to be on television. At the end of the credits, Serena's ruby ring is seen embedded in one of the pillars of the new Powell Millennium Arena, revealing it as her final resting place.



Released on August 7, 1998, Snake Eyes debuted at No. 2 on its opening weekend (behind Saving Private Ryan), with $16 million.[2][3] It grossed $55.6 million in North America, and $103.8 million worldwide.[4]

Critical reaction was mixed to negative, with the film receiving a 40% "rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.[5][6][7][8][9] De Palma responded to the criticisms in an interview with Mark Cousins, "There's a lot of discussion in Snake Eyes about why do we reveal who did it so soon. Well the problem is that it isn't about who did it. It's a mystery about a relationship, two people, and how finding that out affects their relationship... Those kind of procedural movies are extremely boring..."[10]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "De Palma Backing Down on 'Snake Eyes' Rating? Perhaps". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-01. 
  2. ^ "Private Ryan Maintains Its Ground". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-02. 
  3. ^ "Weekend Warrior 'Ryan' Fells Chiller and Thriller". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-01. 
  4. ^ "Snake Eyes (1998)". Box Office Mojo. 1998-10-02. Retrieved 2012-06-09. 
  5. ^ "What You See Is What You Get". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-01. 
  6. ^ "Snake Eyes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-06-09. 
  7. ^ "FILM REVIEW; In Atlantic City, Luck Is Certainly No Lady". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-01. 
  8. ^ "Review: 'Snake Eyes' is not a sure bet". CNN. Retrieved 2012-06-01. 
  9. ^ "Snake Eyes". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2012-06-01. 
  10. ^ Scene By Scene: Brian De Palma [Television Production]. Scotland. 1998.

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