8mm ( 1999 ) : Cage Dances with the Devil [Mike’s Review]
Today on Cage Club we see something we can’t unseen with “8mm”. This movie is probably one of Cage’s darkest movies yet. This movie gets into some pretty big themes while telling a rather small story. It deals with power and influence and how that can be used to get what ever you want at any expense. It’s a gritty detective story that explores the dark side of humanity and the extent in which people will ago to find the truth or to cover it up. This is another drastic shift in tone from the last Cage film proper, Snake Eyes, which was more of a crime conspiracy thriller. While it can be said this is also a crime conspiracy thriller, it’s an entirely different type that is less energetic and more straight forward.
Cage plays Tom Welles, private detective. His job is very similar to that of his character in “Honeymoon in Vegas” except played very straight without any comedic accent at all. He is hired by a billionaire widow to investigate the validity of some disturbing 8mm film found in his vault, after his death. The 8m film is actually a “snuff film” a term used for murdering someone on tape for sexual gratification. Ugh, just typing this makes me feel icky. Cage goes off in search of the girl in the film hoping to prove to the Widow and the girls mother that she is alive and the world isn’t full of people that would kill a girl on tape for sexual gratification, especially since the only explanation is “just ’cause”. Along the way, Welles encounters some colorful characters that inhabit the seedy world of smut dealing. His first companion is Max California, a sex shop clerk played by Joaquin Phoenix. They pal around and search for leads while Max schools Welles on the in’s and out’s of the porn underworld. Welles tracks down Eddie Poole, a small time independent sex dealer played by James Gandolfini. Welles shows him a picture of the girl from the film and t’s obvious he is involved. Welles threatens Eddie to see if he can rattle the cage, and it works. Eddie leads Welles and Max to New York and the front door of another conspirer with a great name, Dino Velvet. Welles commissions a hardcore sex tape hoping to flus out the men that made the supposed snuff film. When he gets to the shoot there is a bit of a double cross. Velvet and Eddie are well aware of Wells and his investigation because the man that hired him is also in on the whole thing. Cage finds himself in the center of a conspiracy yet again. I didn’t mention there is also a silent man in a bondage mask that stars in the snuff film named Machine that is also present at the meeting where Welles is captured. All seems lost until Welles uses some fast talk to turn the bad guys against each other and seizes the chance to escape and regroup. He then sets out to finish what he started, hunt down and kill Eddie and Machine for retribution. The journey forever changes Welles as he is exposed to real life monsters and demons that walk the earth hurting people with impunity. He will never really be the same after this experience having to become what he hated to catch the people responsible, becoming a demon to catch one.
This movie dragged a bit in the first half but I thought the events of the second half justified the wait. What I mean is, it’s worth sitting thru the first half to get to the second. I also really enjoyed all the acting in this film from Joaquin Phoenix to Peter Stormare who plays Dino Velvet. I found myself wondering if Cage was getting out- acted in this one as my attention was directed at the supporting cast a little more than usual. Everyone so completely inhabits their character that they all feel like actual people even though they have extreme or heightened personalities.
The one thing I couldn’t get out of my mind watching this movie is that it was directed by Joel Schumacher right after his Batman movies. The style could not be more different. All I could keep thinking about was what if Schumacher had made a Batman movie in this style and tone rather than the extremely campy way he executed them. I think it would have giving Tim Burton a serious run for his money and maybe even Christopher Nolan. At times I even saw Cage’s character as a Batman with no money, a detective going around the seedy underground looking to solve a murder.
Next up on the Cage Club we have another small detour to make with the documentary that answered the question “What if Nic Cage played Superman” ? That’s right, we take a look at “The Death of Superman Lives, What Happened?” next time on Cage Club.
Mike
@the_mikestir
