Brian De Palma‘s Snake Eyes, one of his more overlooked movies from the 1990s, has resurfaced in the public discourse over its supposed parallels to the death of far-right influencer Charlie Kirk. The movie, which unsurprisingly boasts another immaculate performance from Cage, follows his character, Rick Santoro, who is tasked to uncover the mystery behind the death of a political figure, named Charles Kirkland.
Although the movie didn’t succeed in maintaining the momentum of its opening minutes, especially the ending, which was a last-minute addition, Kirkland’s assassination has raised some eyebrows in the current climate.
Every Uncanny Parallel Between Snake Eyes and Charlie Kirk’s Death
In the opening minutes of the movie, Charles Kirkland, Secretary of Defence, takes a bullet to the neck. Moreover, the initial suspect in Kirkland’s death was Lincoln Tyler, whereas the current alleged suspect, who has been apprehended over Kirk’s death, is Tyler Robinson.
Although some claimed the assassination in the movie occurred on September 10, neither the movie nor the script confirms this claim. However, this hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from running wild with speculations, even though the Cage-led movie is far from the lone piece of media to predict future events.
It’s important to note that, beyond their names sounding similar, there was nothing common about Kirkland and Kirk, whether it was their designation or the circumstances of their death. For instance, Kirkland, in the movie, was attending a boxing event in Atlantic City.
The Original Snake Eyes Ending Made The Movie Better: But Why Wasn’t It Used?
Coming back to the movie, in the wake of the assassination, Nicolas Cage’s Rick digs deeper to unravel a complex web of questions. But unlike most thrillers, De Palma reveals the twist at the midway mark, and the killer happens to be his best friend, Kevin Dunne. The director later defended his decision, stressing that he wanted to focus on how it impacts their bond.
Apart from the audience, Julia Costello was also revealed to be aware of the secret, which put her life at risk. Eventually, the truth unfolds in front of Rick, who discovers it’s a military cover-up. Although Rick, in the end, manages to expose the conspiracy to the world, leading to Kevin Dunne’s suicide, it comes at the cost of his job and freedom after his own corruption is laid bare for the world to see.
Interestingly, the original ending didn’t feature any suicide on Kevin’s part. Instead, he would’ve died as a result of a hurricane in a symbolic act of god blowing everything because of the scale of the corruption. De Palma said:
My concept was, when you’re dealing with such corruption, you need God to come down and blow it all away. It’s the only way. It’s the only thing that works. That was the whole idea of the wave.”
Considering the movie kept on hitting at a potential storm, it’d have certainly meshed well with the movie’s stylized approach, giving De Palma’s story a more grand and satisfying conclusion. Unfortunately, the test screening audiences weren’t too fond of the CGI hurricane, which pushed them to leave the scene on the chopping block.
On the flip side, given the traction the movie has garnered in recent months, it could be the perfect opportunity to realize De Palma’s original vision.
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Snake Eyes is currently streaming on Paramount+ (USA).
