8MM: Eight Millimeter

Nicholas Cage delivers an outstanding performance in this thought-provoking and very disturbing film. This film illustrates the taboo world of 'snuff' films and gets up-close and personal with the people who make them. As you dive deeper into this world during the movie, your innermost beliefs about good and evil will be altered. Some for better. Mostly for the worst. The movie ends with the final encounter of the very face of evil, played by James Gandolfini, who delivers an outstanding performance in this role. The movie's final message is this: as humans, we have the capacity to commit atrocious acts against others. We also retain the capacity to show incredible love and compassion. None of us is all bad. None of us is perfectly good. We all have good and bad impulses that we must reconcile within ourselves every day. At times, people do inhumane and unspeakable things to others. Due to our fundamental flaws, you and I are just one or two bad decisions away from becoming a murderer or rapist. The 'monster' we envision doesn't look anything like a monster with claws, fangs, and weapons. Look in the mirror. The monster looks like you. And me. It's anyone and everyone. That is what makes this movie so powerful -- how much it shoves reality in your face. You'll never forget this movie.

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This is not a movie for those of weak heart; in fact, it’s a bald attack upon the morals of all who watch it. If the “Saw” collection didn’t repulse you there may be a place for this film in your collection. This film begins as a “missing-persons” case but quickly devolves into this one central question, “Is ‘snuff’ real?” Nicolas Cage plays it as well as anyone could, and Joaquin Phoenix is convincing as his guide into the world of L.A. hardcore porn. So be ready to have your mind blown (and be sure your kids don’t see it- it’s enough to cause nightmares…)

Director Joel Schumacher gets a lot of grief, only some of which he actually deserves. The haters tend to focus on his widely despised Batman & Robin and generally don't acknowledge that he has actually made some good films. Many people consider his 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys a classic. He directed the most entertaining John Grisham adaptation by far (The Client) and also the most ambitious John Grisham adaptation by far (A Time To Kill). I honestly don't think the Batman & Robin criticism is entirely honest--not because it isn't a dreadful film but Batman Forever two years earlier is every bit as campy as Batman & Robin and was also the most successful film in the Batman series up to that point--so people are ripping him for the over-the-top camp of Batman & Robin even though they didn't seem to mind it in Batman Forever.I wanted to establish that I'm not a Joel Schumacher hater before stating that I am not a fan of Eight Millimeter and that I think he is largely the one who screwed up the film.The story concerns a private detective played by Nicholas Cage who is hired by a rich widow who finds what she is afraid might be a snuff film in her husband's safe. She wants Cage's character to discreetly determine whether the film is real, whether the girl in it is actually alive or dead and, if possible, figure out who made the film.The premise is intriguing enough and Eight Millimeter boasts a script by hot writer at the time Andrew Kevin Walker in his first produced screenplay after Se7en. The set-up was pretty cool and Eight Millimeter has a surprisingly deep acting bench besides Nicolas Cage including Joaquin Phoenix (whose wry portrayal of Cage's guide into the seedy world of underground porn is the film's highlight), James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, Catherine Keener--even The Walking Dead's beloved Norman Reedus has a good scene. So what went wrong?Joel Schumacher's propensity for lush imagery tends to work against the material and make everything seem too polished--Eight Millimeter really would have benefited greatly from less slick and more seedy. The film score by Mychael Danna doing an uncanny imitation of Dead Can Dance--I was certain they did the music--would be good in a different context but is completely wrong here. The big dramatic payoff scene in Eight Millimeter is explicitly about the banality of evil--so the exotica conjured up by the music score which leans heavily on middle eastern sounding drums and voices seems like an odd choice to say the least. It really seems like Joel Schumacher was far more interested in making a movie that looked and sounded nice than in trying to film the material in a way that would be effective dramatically.One very obvious influence for the story is the early Paul Schrader film Hardcore which is likely showing up as a "you might also like..." choice on the Amazon page for Eight Millimeter. Hardcore was about a conservative Midwest father looking for his daughter in the sleaze world of California porn and Schrader's style alternated between stag-film ugly and touches of neon that brought to mind a descent into Dante's Inferno--Schrader rubbed his self-righteous hero's nose in the sleaze and sin of porn but in Eight Millimeter everything looks lush and beautiful--even the warehouse where some baddies intend to kill Nicolas Cage is gorgeous. Eight Millimeter is way too slick and stylish for its own good, or at least not stylish in a way that actually benefits the material. There's also an unfortunate attempt to soften the ending by finding grace and redemption when recovering from the violent moral descent of the third act of Eight Millimeter shouldn't be nearly so easy that it could be accomplished by reading a letter. Curiously the letter Nicolas Cage reads at the end is a lift from another Paul Schraeder script, the end of Taxi Driver which also featured an attempt to soften some nakedly nasty material to make it more palatable for audiences as they were leaving the theater. The letter from the child prostitute's parents in Taxi Driver caused many audience members to falsely suppose that Travis Bickle had become a hero and that misunderstanding might have partly been responsible for Taxi Driver's commercial success. The letter at the end of Eight Millimeter seems to serve no purpose but to tack on a hopeful ending that doesn't belong anywhere near the rest of the movie.Sometimes directors are simply bad fits for specific scripts. Brian De Palma almost directed Taxi Driver which would not have been good. Paul Schrader wrote his Vertigo knock-off Obsession specifically so Brian De Palma would relinquish his claim on Taxi Driver. If Bad Lieutenant era Abel Ferrara or Se7en director David Fincher had made Eight Millimeter it might have been a classic--instead it's a nice looking dud.

After reading some of the other reviews I really debated on whether or not to watch this movie. As it turns out, I'm glad that I did. I did not find it to be so incredibly violent. I could point anyone who thought that to a few other Cage movies. Even though I liked the movie, it was a little slow. I don't think the porn scenes were all that graphic. After all, the movie needed to keep its R rating. Anything too graphic and it would had to have been an X. The most disappointing thing to me about this movie was the revenge motif that it slid into, although I can certainly understand it. I had no problem with Welles falling apart at the end, although the "save me" line was a little much. I do agree with the person who said in their review that this was Satanism. People want to blame all deviant behavior on mental illness, but that just isn't correct. Evil exists. It really is true that " when you dance with the Devil he doesn't change. He changes you."

I feared this might be a bit too grisly or sordid for me but it was actually quite well filmed. Not the biggest Nicolas Cage fan although Lord Of War is one my all time favourite films, give that a watch if you've not seen it - brilliant! This one popped up as a recommendation for Norman Reedus fans, yes his 2 minute performance steals the show! Sorry, I'm straying from the point. If you enjoy a good crime drama with adult themes and plot, you'll enjoy this, have a splendid evening.

A very good movie indeed with great performances all around especially from Cage, Gandolfini and Phoenix. The subject matter is very dark which makes the movie even more memorable. For me a definite must watch.The soundtrack is average except for the track when cage is driving around Hollywood at night searching for the missing girl and which was again repeated at the end credits. I found it to be superb and truly sole stirring but for years I could not find anywhere what it was called or whether it was available for purchase/download. Finally I think (90% sure) I found it. It is actually Moroccan street style music. Look for Cherifa (singer), Berber Blues (album), on iTunes. Perfect entrance music for an Asian boxer I Think, lol.

Cage at his best - grim, gritty and depressing. Who’d have thought Tony Soprano was moonlighting as a snuff film producer?Taking a star off for the forced and cheesy resolution voice-over reading of a letter at the end though.

saw it when it was originally released, I'm a big Nicholas Cage fan....was reminded of it again recently so bought it on Amazon...interesting,if weird subject...taboo subject,however very well acted by the whole cast,great direction,not gaudy or deliberately 'tacky' and a great performance from Nicholas Cage

in my opinion this is Nicholas cages best film ! the story is genius, its so twisted, weird & frightening you cant stop watching it & then well thought out story and plot is magnificent! a must watch for all thriller/horror/cage fans its brilliant !