'If someone never saw or sold a snuff film, they shouldn't give a damn what I ask about it, if they have they got a right to be nervous.'

(There are some very minimal spoilers, but these are in the second paragraph, it will not ruin the movie if you read it)

This isn't going to be classic review where I pick apart the story, characters, music and all of that good stuff, I'm going to give my opinion on the movie and what I think it means and how important I think it is. While I think it might be one of Cage's most ignored pictures, it holds a very important message that should not be ignored. 8MM is a real film because what happens in the film, despite how much we turn a blind eye to it, does happen in real life, even to this day. It is not a very pretty subject matter and neither is the film, it is dark, violent and sometimes a gutwrenching story and this is why it is memorable to me. I have not before or after watching 8MM seen anything quite like it, it is the only film I've seen that was provocative in any kind of way; how far can one man go to bring justice to light? How far can one man go before he becomes what he is hunting, a monster? What can you do when you don't know what you're facing, who are up against or how high the odds are against you? The film is very, very powerful this is due to its acting, Nicolas Cage's dark portrayal of Tom Welles, a man who plays it by the book and is slowly loosing himself to the darkness, is captivating. Tom Welles is a very complex character with very hard moral choices to overcome to achieve his goals. He is a man who has a very great concept of right and wrong and when his morals come into question Tom becomes a very determined man. I've never seen a film with this much of a chartacter arc, where they change half way through and have to adapt to the new world they have gotten themselves into.  As with any good movie, the soundtrack plays a huge part, the soundtrack in this film goes from creepy to downright unsetlling. One smart thing about the soundtrack, when it deals with the innocent characters like, Tom, Max, Amy the soundtrack that accompanies them is a soft piano, however, when it deals with the kidnappers and the killers it is a very harsh, moody and bitter soundtrack.

 

The movie is not a very easy watch, the people who I have recommened it too have liked it but said it was a very dark, unsetlling film. It also had some black comedy thrown in to lighten the mood every now and then. It had me on the edge of my seat solidly for the films two hours, I've never seen anything like it and I doubt that I'll ever see anything like it ever again. 8MM remains my second favorite Nicolas Cage film because it had me totally invested in everything it was doing. Was it violent? Yes. Was it vulgar? Yes. Did it fit the story? Yes. So I don't understand where the negative comments come from when critics say 'it's too violent' Isn't that the point of the film? After all of Tom's searching and he finds Machine and expects an answer from him but when the answer is simply 'because he wanted to' it becomes apparent to the viewer who is much like the Tom  during the whole film that there is not always a reason behind someones actions to do something bad, it is simply for the fun of it. Haunting, 8MM tells the story of something that most people wish to forget about and for that reason alone I think it should not be missed. Simply dismissing an issue does not get it solved. 

Thank you for reading, any and all comments are welcome.