Spiel auf Zeit (1998)

Spiel auf Zeit: Directed by Brian De Palma. With Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Carla Gugino. A shady police detective finds himself in the middle of a murder conspiracy at an important boxing match in an Atlantic City casino.

“Overblown, overdirected, overacted: thatu0026#39;s why I always enjoy DePalmau0026#39;s movies. He made the statement that the camera lies 24 times a second, and SNAKE EYES plays on that theme.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDe Palmau0026#39;s camera is constantly in motion, roaming through the arena, casino , and hotel as if it had a life of its own. At the beginning of the film we watch Nick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) as he swims through the sewer (his words) that is the Atlantic City casino world. He tells us, u0026quot;This isnu0026#39;t a beach town. Itu0026#39;s a sewer. Itu0026#39;s my sewer, I am the king.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s literally a dark and stormy night. A hurricane (a tv reporter is pressured to refer to it as a u0026#39;tropical depressionu0026#39; on the air) is coming ashore, and 14,000 people are gathered at a casino complex to watch a prizefight.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a shooting during the fight, and Cage orders the exits sealed; who would go outside into a hurricane remains a mystery, but anyhow. There are two mysterious women involved in the incident, and as time passes he realizes that there were lots of people involved, possibly even his longtime friend Navy Commander Dunne (Gary Sinese) who is as straight-arrow as Cageu0026#39;s character is sleazy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy the end of the story Cage is working toward redemption- even though during the early part of the film itu0026#39;s made clear that he sees everything as having a price.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s one point where he is offered a million dollars to reveal where one of the women (she knows a lot- too much- about a defense contract, and was talking to the Secretary of Defense when he was shot) is hiding. And there u0026#39;s a very real chance that he might give in, or be unable to protect her when the danger gets intense.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMen in De Palmau0026#39;s films have a way of failing to come through for women in critical situations. An executive couldnu0026#39;t save his wife in OBSESSION. A young actor couldnu0026#39;t protect a mysterious, beautiful woman in BODY DOUBLE. The nicest guy in school couldnu0026#39;t keep the outcast/prom queen CARRIE from humiliation and its awful consequences. In the superb BLOW OUT a movie soundman rescues a young woman from a sinking car early in the story, but is too late to save her from a madman at the filmu0026#39;s conclusion.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo there is no guarantee of a happy ending. Self doubt weighs heavily in De Palmau0026#39;s films, and often peopleu0026#39;s best efforts are to no avail.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAdmittedly David Koepp and De Palmau0026#39;s script is something of a problem. Thereu0026#39;s a complex conspiracy underfoot, and conspiracies are low on my list of compelling things- I got burned out on them in the seventies.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFar more compelling is the great fun that Cage has with his character. Boy, does he get to chew scenery here. Constantly in motion, talking on his cell phone (even during a hurricane; some of my friends canu0026#39;t use theirs when a cloud passes over the sun), interacting with the low life characters around the casino.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd, oh, does DePalma have fun with the whole thing. Of course, nothing is what it seems to be. He retells the action from the viewpoint of this or that character: we sometimes literally see what happened through that characteru0026#39;s eyes. An important setpiece in which we finally see what really happened in clear perspective uses split screen imagery- and in the theatre where we saw SNAKE EYES the use of stereo sound was an integral part of the seperation of images.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor all the bravado of his performance, I was impressed with Cageu0026#39;s ability and willingness to share the screen with other actors. In some of the retellings he is a supporting character or featured extra, and as an actor heu0026#39;s more than willing to let our attention shift to someone else. A lesser actor might have been afraid of that shift of focus. Way to go, Nicolas. Thatu0026#39;s a real sign of maturity as an actor.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo did I buy into De Palmau0026#39;s bag of tricks? Yup, 100%. Itu0026#39;s nice to see a movie that isnu0026#39;t afraid of the old razzle-dazzle. I do appreciate subtlety and complex ideas- thatu0026#39;s why Iu0026#39;m a voracious reader. I really donu0026#39;t think Iu0026#39;d enjoy De Palma directing an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel or REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST. The Merchant- Ivory people do that sort of thing so nicely. But it was nice to sit back for an hour and a half and let a master showman use illusion to fool us and let our eyes fool our brains.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn a five scale, Pops gives it four slot machines.”