The Rewatchables – ‘Snake Eyes’ (1998)

With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan
November 11, 2025 | The Ringer Podcast Network

Episode Overview

This episode of The Rewatchables dives into Brian De Palma’s twisty 1998 thriller Snake Eyes, starring Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, and Carla Gugino. Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan dissect what makes the movie an oddball but enduringly rewatchable entry in the De Palma and Cage canon. The trio explores De Palma’s cinematic style, Cage’s “safety off” mode, Sinise’s villain chops, and the strange late-‘90s energy of the film, touching on everything from iconic long shots to the fate of Atlantic City–and why movies like this don’t get made anymore.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Brian De Palma's Unique Style

• Snake Eyes marks the fifth De Palma film covered on The Rewatchables, praised for its “water slide movie” feel—once you’re on, you can’t stop until the end.
  • Sean Fennessey (02:12): “There's a certain kind of movie that's that I like to call the water slide movie, where once you sit down like, you can't stop, right? … But the slide down in this movie is so fucking fun.”
• The film shows De Palma at his most mainstream, coming off Mission: Impossible, but still brings out his “freak” side in voyeurism, long takes, and split-screen trickery.
  • Bill Simmons (16:21): “The establishment kind of overwhelms the protagonists in my movies. And it's like the tar baby. It's very difficult to beat. You keep socking it, but you just keep on getting another limb sucked in. Jesus, De Palma, you're weirdo. I love this guy.”
  • Sean Fennessey (17:56): “All the movies are about—they're not about the women, and they're not even about having sex with the women. They're about men watching the women. That's what all the movies [are about]. They're all about voyeurism.”

The Cage "Safety Off" Era

• Snake Eyes is a prime example of Cage in his "safety-off," high-volume mode post-Leaving Las Vegas Oscar.
  • Sean Fennessey (10:15): “If you watch Vampire's Kiss, which he made before this, that's one of the craziest movie performances of all time, where you can feel him just being like, screw it. I'm taking this movie over and I'm doing exactly what I want.”
• The gang discusses his transition from eccentric weirdo to unlikely action star (The Rock, Face/Off, Con Air), and how he always imbues oddity into seemingly straight roles.
  • Bill Simmons (07:51): “Yeah, it was like the 2.0 version of it.”
  • Craig Horbeck (06:08): “It's weird, though, because … he finds a way to pivot into this really pained, deep, sincere artist in the mid-90s, and then pivots out of that into these kinds of parts, these action star parts with guys who are a little greasy, a little untrustworthy.”

Sinise as the Double-Crossing Heavy

• The pod highlights Gary Sinise’s ability to flip from trustworthy to chilling in a heartbeat—his performance in Ransom is cited as his “peak evil.”
  • Bill Simmons (31:24): “He's got that thing, that intensity, that face where he can go from somebody … you're supposed to trust and then as soon as the turn happens, he is legitimately a face that you can revile.”

That Iconic Opening Shot

• The ten-minute Steadicam tracking shot through the Atlantic City arena is dissected for both its technical impressiveness and its importance in building the movie’s wild energy.
  • Sean Fennessey (55:02): “That is to get that many extras to work at the same time is master filmmaker … That’s not CGI. All those people in the crowd ... It's like hundreds, maybe thousands of extras.”

Rewatchable Scene Rankings

• Opening tracking shot—ten minutes of kinetic cinema
• The assassination/set-up during the fight
• Carla Gugino’s character hiding and cleaning blood in the bathroom
• Nick Cage discovering Sinise’s true nature (“the bad guy reveal”)
• Split-screen staircase confession

Thematic Oddness & Late-’90s Energy

• The movie’s take on instant celebrity and scandal is timely, but ultimately undercooked.
  • Bill Simmons (24:01): “There’s some sort of thing about instant celebrity ... The most interesting part of the movie to me is the fall after, where it sets him up as the hero. And then, hey, by the way, he was found with cocaine.”
  • Sean Fennessey (23:17): “It’s one of his least interesting thematically. I would say it is very relevant right now ... but unlike Dress, the Kill or Carlito's Way, it's not like a heady movie ... It's kind of trashy. It's like a trashy noir movie.”
• Snake Eyes is a “straightforward” De Palma, with its technical flair compensating for a light plot.

Carla Gugino: The Almost-A-Lister

• Extended discussion on Gugino’s career as someone who “was one role away” from stardom.
  • Sean Fennessey (44:02): “She’s just … insanely hot in Snake Eyes. … But there are a few people, like we've talked about on the show over the years, where you're like, one turn of the dial and it would have been a different career.”

What’s “Aged the Best” and “Worst”?

Aged Best:

• De Palma’s now-rare, auteur pyrotechnics
• Cage’s unhinged performance
• Gary Sinise’s villain turn
• The technical wizardry of the tracking shots
• The hypnotic energy of late-‘90s Atlantic City and its cell phones

Aged Worst:

• The logistical incoherence of the plot (plot holes and character motivations)
• Carla Gugino’s “missiles analyst in a miniskirt” conceit
• The eventual scrapping of the original tidal wave ending, which the hosts argue would have improved the film
• The elaborate assassination plan, which wouldn't work in a post-1998 world saturated with cameras and digital forensics

Homages & Movie Trivia

• De Palma’s Hitchcock homage: the staircase shot is a direct visual reference to Vertigo (75:23)
• Rashomon-style POV flashbacks, split screen, and boxes are discussed as De Palma signatures.
• Casting What-Ifs:
  • Al Pacino reportedly turned down Sinise’s part
  • Will Smith pursued Enemy of the State instead of Snake Eyes
  • Discussion of how Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks would’ve changed the energy

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Bill Simmons (54:03): “Because I was made for the sewer, baby, and I'm the king. He's just screaming for no reason.”
• Sean Fennessey (75:23): “My favorite is the scene when Gugino and Cage are sitting on the staircase ... a direct lift from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.”
• Craig Horbeck (88:35): “It's not a better movie, but it might be a more interesting movie if the lead's roles were reversed ... Sinise as the hero, Cage as the villain.”

The “That Guy” Parade

• The cast is stacked with 1990s “that guy” actors: Luis Guzmán, Stan Shaw, John Hurd, Mike Starr, Kevin Dunn, Michael Rispoli.
• Carla Gugino wins “fan favorite,” while Michael Rispoli is voted the ultimate “that guy.”

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Cage's Career and Style: 03:27 – 14:00
• Sinise and Supporting Cast: 30:11 – 34:50
• De Palma’s Cinematic Tricks: 15:26 – 20:00, 75:23 – 77:00
• Opening Shot Breakdown: 46:00 – 56:00
• 'Most Rewatchable Scene' Category: 54:03 – 62:00
• What’s Aged Best/Worst: 67:10 – 77:00
• That Guy & Cast Analysis: 47:52 – 52:00
• Casting What-Ifs: 90:29 – 92:09
• Tidal Wave Ending Debate: 79:23 – 81:08
• Carla Gugino Career Talk: 42:04 – 46:41

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On Cage’s Cage-ness:
  Bill Simmons [54:03]: “Because I was made for the sewer, baby, and I'm the king. He's just screaming for no reason.”
• On De Palma’s Freakiness:
  Sean Fennessey [17:56]: “All the movies are about … men watching the women. That’s what all the movies [are about]. They’re all about voyeurism.”
• On Sinise as Villain:
  Bill Simmons [31:24]: “He goes from a face that you're supposed to trust ... as soon as the turn happens, he is legitimately a face that you can revile.”
• On Carla Gugino’s Hotness:
  Sean Fennessey [44:02]: “She’s just … insanely hot in Snake Eyes ... one turn of the dial and it would have been a different career.”
• On De Palma & Cinema:
  Sean Fennessey [43:43]: “As soon as the camera starts moving and you see what it wants—what it's looking at—then you can tell [it’s De Palma].”

Final Thoughts & Legacy

• Snake Eyes is hailed for its bravura filmmaking and the go-for-broke style of late-‘90s mid-budget genre movies, even as the pod acknowledges its story doesn't fully pay off.
• The episode stands as a love letter to:
  • The vanishing mid-tier, original thriller
  • The lost era of Atlantic City fights
  • Cage and De Palma’s willingness to take big swings
• The hosts agree that Cage “never loses a movie he stars in” and that, despite flaws, Snake Eyes remains a quintessential rewatchable.

For listeners seeking a nostalgic, insightful, and very funny discussion about kinetic ‘90s thrillers, movie nerd debates, and the evolution (and extinction) of the Hollywood B-movie, this episode is essential.