It takes evil as seriously as any recent Hollywood film. But unlike the even nastier 'Seven'' and many movies involving Dantesque trips into the minds of serial killers and Nazi sadists, '8mm'' mostly resists the temptation to enjoy viciousness even as it condemns it. Nicolas Cage plays Tom Welles, a private investigator engaged by a rich widow to investigate an 8mm film found in her late husband's safe. It shows the apparent murder of a teen-age girl by a man wearing a leather mask.
Welles points out that 'snuff'' films are an urban myth.
But it is obvious from the start that this reel is the real thing and that his assignment will take him down through the murkiest circles of the porn industry until he reaches a hell of pure perversion. Equally predictable is the shadowy presence of someone who wants Welles' mission to fail, and the bloody battle that must take place at the end of his quest. None of this is original. Besides some glaring implausibilities, including a sociology lecture by a murderer with a gun in his face, the most obvious weakness of '8mm'' lies in its undeveloped characters. Catherine Keener, so good in 'Out of Sight,'' plays Welles' cardboard wife, who he keeps in total ignorance of his job.