Snake Eyes: Movie Review

To say that we have low expectations from "Snake Eyes" to begin with is an understatement. Given how its predecessors performed, having this film franchise rejuvenated was the very last thing we expected in a pandemic riddled industry. But alas, "Snake Eyes" was made and what we have unfrotunately is mostly the same ilk. Over-the-top silly with over-the-top action to entertain who like their adrenaline rush dumb and bombastic.

When he was a young boy, Snake Eyes (Henry Golding) witnesses the murder his father. Full of hatred, he has he has sworn to kill this murdererd the first chance he gets. Twenty years pass by and now Snake Eyes has lived under the radar as a ghost moving from town to town as a successful underground fighter. One day, an individual who calls himself Kenta (Takehiro Hira) offers him to work him in the Yakuza and in exchange, he will track down and give Snake Eyes the murderer he has been trying to track down all his life. 

Are we back in the era of two hour movies? Because "Snake Eyes" is two hours long and we just couldn't understand why it had to be this long in the first place. We never expected great things from its writing but if we're being honest, there's just this overall sense of breeziness and silliness that we just couldn't shake. The film's narrative is definitely more fantasy than reality but it's the kind of fantasy that doesn't suck you into its world and you know that it was all complete nonsense from the start to finish. Sadly, they had a chance to correct whatever deficiencies this film franchise had but "Snake Eyes" devolves to whatever kind of films the two previous ones are. It might look newer and slicker but its core and beats are still the same so expect to be disappointed if you hated the previous ones before. Performance-wise, we were similarly disappointed. Every actor was overacting at some point and most of it was laughable adding more and more to the silliness. Henry Golding in particular just came off as miscast and he doesn't really come off as a great live-action equivalent to the character of Snake Eyes here. Some would say at least the action was great and to that we say it would depend. Some fights were great (like the motorcycle chase) while others had our characters swinging aimlessly in the air. Unfortunately, "Snake Eyes" doesn't really justifies its existence or rejuvenates a franchise that was never great in the first place. Instead it reminds us heavily of why a third film should have been scrapped the first second someone even thought about it.      

Rating: 1 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:

- had some great action sequences

Why you shouldn't watch it:

- doesn't justify its existence

- has the same problems and issues of the previous films