‘Snake E’ Dazzles, But There’S No Payoff

Brian De Palma brings his impressive bag of technical tricks to the craps table for “Snake Eyes,” an otherwise unremarkable, decidedly ungripping suspense thriller set against the sleazy backdrop of Atlantic City gambling.

While the veteran filmmaker is in fine form, all the visual dazzle in the world can’t gloss over the spoken drivel that pours from the picture’s hackneyed script, even with actors as good as Nicolas Cage and Gary Sinise attempting to breathe some life into the tired cliches.

Things kick off promisingly enough with an extended set-up sequence orchestrated as a continuous Steadicam shot following wheeler-dealer Atlantic City detective-on-the-take Rick Santoro (Cage) making the rounds before a pay-per-view heavyweight boxing match.

Joining him is his old buddy, naval Cmdr. Kevin Dunne (Sinise), a seeming pillar of virtue who in his current job is responsible for the security of the Secretary of Defense (Joel Fabiani), who’s attending the bout.

The inevitable shots ring out, the defense secretary is assassinated and the arena is sealed as 14,000 fans become possible suspects and witnesses.

Dunne becomes discredited and Santoro takes charge of the subsequent investigation. Slowly, he begins to unravel the tangle of evidence, presented in multiple-viewpoint “Rashomon” style, that points to a nasty little conspiracy.

The trademark De Palma touches abound - the continuous, painstakingly choreographed shots, the split-screen sequences, the visual Hitchcock quotes, the scantily-clad females - with a few fresh flourishes added to the mix.

The impressive opening aside, there’s also a clever overhead pan of the interiors of adjoining hotel rooms that neatly evokes the surreal artificiality of the whole casino environment.

But as much as he attempts to dress up David Koepp’s script, De Palma still can’t take it anywhere. Koepp, who collaborated with De Palma on “Mission: Impossible” and “Carlito’s Way,” contributes more of a blueprint for De Palma’s fancy footwork than a three-dimensional screenplay.

Everything feels warmed-over and lazily derivative. The characters seem to be there only to spout plot exposition rather than to exchange any actual, personality-defining dialogue.

As a result, most efforts made by the actors to elevate the material end up taking them very close to over-the-top, particularly Cage and Sinise.

“Snake Eyes” Location: North Division, Spokane Valley, Coeur d’Alene Cinemas, Post Falls Cinema Credits: Directed by Brian De Palma, starring Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, Carla Gugino, John Heard Running time: 1:39 Rating: R