PicoBlog

Many thanks to everyone who came through at the Sidewalk Cinema last night for my third time hosting VHS Time Machine! Or what I like to call “Dust On The VCR Live!” (They probably don’t want me to call it that.) We watched my recently acquired VHS copy of Snake Eyes in honor of Nic’s 60th birthday, and it was a terrific time with a lively crowd. Speaking of Sidewalk, don’t forget that the Bad Movie Marathon starts tonight, and I could really use your support! Now, let’s roll those dice…

Years ago, when I was working at an advertising agency, I discovered a very upsetting decoration at one of my cohort’s desks. It was a jokey inspirational meme—yes, she’d printed it out on actual paper and hung it with a magnet—that said “If Nicolas Cage can still get work then you can do anything.”*

Reader, when I saw this blasphemy for the first time, I had to exhibit a commendable amount of self-control. Because that shit made me mad. Who was she to criticize one of my—nay, our—beloved actors? Hadn’t she seen Raising Arizona or Adaptation or Wild at Heart or Vampire’s Kiss or Joe? Wasn’t she reading the movie trades and excited by the positive buzz around Mandy? How could she say such a thing about such a guy?**

But I’m not naïve. I know the man’s got a reputation for schlock of every scope, from big-budget trash to direct-to-video stinkers. And he earned that reputation the same way he earned those paychecks: without a care in the world. But when he does care, I think Cage is capable of doing things that only a select few actors can do.***

Brian De Palma shares this opinion, I believe. Because Cage is the rabbit in his hat throughout the magical opening sequence of Snake Eyes.

Long takes have become a more common parlor trick in the 21st century. Films like Creed and Extraction use them well to ground the viewer in gripping action sequences. On the opposite end of the spectrum, films like Hunger and Birth employ oners like a cinematic still life. Films like 1917 and Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance are even edited to look like one feature-length unbroken shot.

But the opening sequence of Snake Eyes does something that modern long takes typically don’t: It builds a world by developing a character. Specifically, Cage’s incredibly entertaining dirty New Jersey cop character.

Okay, I should rewind a bit. Like most flashy long takes, this one isn’t truly one long unbroken shot. The first 13 minutes or so of Snake Eyes are designed to look like one uncut sequence, but there are some sneaky edits in there. However! According to my sources, several minutes of that sequence really are one shot.**** And Cage is in almost every second of that stretch.

It’s a particularly effective marriage of script and cinematography. The scene—the whole film, in fact—takes place at a boxing match during a hurricane (love you for that, David Koepp), and Cage’s character, Detective Rick Santoro, is the focal point the whole way. In this opening scene, we see him as he takes phone calls from both his wife and his mistress, pleads with a bookie to place a bet for him on credit, shakes down an associate for money he’s owed, hands that money over to the bookie (including a bloody $100 bill), and giddily cheers on one of the fighters (who happened to go to his high school) as he’s about to enter the ring.

On paper, Santoro’s character development comes in quick bursts as we see many sides to his complex dirtbag persona. But when they’re all strung together in succession with barely a pause between each interaction, it shows us right away that Santoro is a chameleon, a man capable of putting on a variety of masks to get what he wants. It all adds up to a pretty remarkable showcase for Cage, an actor who was on top of the world in 1998 and willing to really go for it.*****

Your mileage may vary on the final 85 minutes of Snake Eyes, but thanks to De Palma, cinematographer Stephen H. Burum, and yes, the acting talents of Nicolas Cage, this opening sequence is unimpeachable. Just listen to the great Roger Ebert: “About that first shot. It’s wonderful. De Palma…steals the crown here from the famous long takes by Martin Scorsese in Goodfellas and Paul Thomas Anderson in Boogie Nights. …Cage is wonderful, all the extras and supporting actors hit their marks right on time, the camera work…is perfectly coordinated, the energy level is high.”

Ebert’s final score? One star. (A snake eye, if you will.) But folks, he got it right where it counted.

*I did an image search for this meme so I could get the phrasing right. I found it on a Pinterest board called “17 Funny Memes for Nurses Who Need a Dose of Encouragement.”

**If you’re a fellow Cage fan, I just picked up a copy of Age of Cage: Four Decades of Hollywood Through One Singular Career written by Keith Phipps, co-writer of The Reveal, one of my favorite Substacks. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m gonna highly recommend it anyway!

***Like stealing the Declaration of Independence, as my editor John said.

****I consulted this piece from Film School Rejects, which I would highly recommend for some great backstory on this film. (Even though they clock the take at a higher minute count than it actually is.)

*****This film made over $100 million worldwide. Cage really had it like that. (De Palma did too, I suppose.)

Snake Eyes is now streaming on Paramount+ and MGM+, and it is available to rent elsewhere.

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