Snake Eyes
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: August 7, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Dallas ObserverPeter Rainer
The entire film takes its cue from Cage's spritzes and jags; it's a delirious performance in a delirious landscape. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Snake Eyes can't sustain its masterful first hour, but it's better than just about any action movie this year. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
After it has ended, you may want to view it all over again, just to see if you can beat the odds and pick up on what you missed the first time around. Read full review
75
USA TodayAndy Seiler
Snake Eyes sports some of the most breathtaking filmmaking of De Palma's career -- and Nicolas Cage is the one actor who cannot be upstaged by it. [18 September 1998, p. 11E]
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The real heroes are cinematographer Stephen H. Burum and editor Bill Pankow, who help the picture keep popping even when its plot and dialogue go into a slump. Read full review
70
NewsweekJeff Giles
There's plenty of bravura camera work and two terrific supporting turns from Carla Gugino, as a terrified key witness, and Stan Shaw, as the soul-searching heavyweight champ. De Palma didn't hit the jackpot here, but he certainly didn't roll snake eyes. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Mixed together, all of this makes for a fascinating viewing experience, but the unfortunate ending diluted my enthusiasm for the film as a whole. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Great pictures are seamless; in this one, you can not only see the seams but count the stitches. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsDavid Kehr
A dicey thriller visually, De Palma kicks off the movie on quite a roll, but the story craps out. [7 August 1998, p. 57]
60
The New YorkerDaphne Merkin
In spite of its noirish glow, De Palma's thriller is oddly unsuspenseful. Although his vaunted technique and Hitchcockian effects are all here, there's no life in the story (co-written by De Palma and David Koepp), and the last-minute burst of sentimentality is especially lame. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A great big juicy gob of apocalyptic paranoia. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
A thriller of serpentine excitement all the way up to that dud of a climax. Read full review
60
Film ThreatTom Meek
Cage and Sinise earn their pay, but the story by De Palma and David Koepp -- which strains for romantic glory of De Palma's "Blow Out" or "Obsession" -- gives away too much too early. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
The movie's coda is completely ridiculous and, worse yet, boring. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
I can't think of another movie that starts so brilliantly and ends so miserably as this one. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Cage supplies beaucoup energy, but his highly compromised hustler cop character provides little else in which he can invest his talent. Sinise wears an increasingly grim demeanor in a part that comes to make no sense, and John Heard's role as a local power broker gets lost in the shuffle. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
For me, part of the fun of Snake Eyes is the genuine satisfaction of seeing Brian De Palma finally arriving at his own level. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Not too long after the knockout opening, all that's left of Snake Eyes are Cage's wild eyes, the dregs of David Koepp's rotten script, and De Palma's restless, anxious camera, on the prowl for something, anything, to hang on to. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The identity of the bad guy is ludicrously obvious; and his public unmasking relies on the dopiest contrivance in recent memory. Read full review
40
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
As filmmaking, it's a bravura performance, but as a film, it falls flat. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
A glittery but dunderheaded murder mystery. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's the worst kind of bad film: the kind that gets you all worked up and then lets you down, instead of just being lousy from the first shot. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Has Brian De Palma finally lost his mind? Ever since "Carrie" (1976), his one true masterpiece, this director has evolved into a cinematic serial killer of common sense. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
De Palma seems to be trying too hard to make somebody else's great movie, once again an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Would someone please tell this guy to relax? Read full review
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