MOVIE REVIEWS
Snakes on a Plane (again)
Matt Jameson
After making fun of this film for months leading up to its release, I felt somewhat compelled to watch it. Regardless of how ridiculous a movie plot might be, I usually give it the benefit of the doubt. And after this film stole the number one box office spot on the week of its release I must admit I was intrigued.
Here’s a film that costs significantly less to make than the unfortunate disaster which was Poseidon, yet stole the box office from the much hyped Ricky Bobby. In fact this film beat out many other films projected to do very well in the box office. I think that most Americans love campy films with shaky premises, so long as the dialogue is well written and the characters are lovable. And let’s be honest here, who doesn’t love Samuel L. Jackson. Part of what propelled this film into box office success can be found in the brilliant marketing team behind the snakes website, and numerous television promotions.
It’s predictable to find an actor or actress plugging their new film on television or radio shows. One often hears comments such as “this is a really important film” or perhaps the oft-used clich “I just loved the script as soon as I read it”. But with Snakes, Samuel L. Jackson brilliantly quipped, “this film holds a special place in my heart”. Combining their marketing efforts around that statement, the ever repeated famous line “I’m tired of these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane” and the unusually moronic title - the Snakes marketing team hit box office pay dirt. IMDB.com rates this film as number one on the US box office charts even now.
I went into the theater with cautious hopes that this movie might actually be watchable. Essentially I paid the ticket price just to hear the famous line delivered by Mr. Jackson. Even if the move sucked, I knew it would feel worth it once that Pulp Fiction-esque line was delivered. To my surprise however, the film wasn’t that bad. Most of the characters were likable, although somewhat hollow since you don’t get a chance to see them developed very far. The cast is a mixture of known actors and unknown breakout actors, as well as a few memorable character actors we’ve all seen in many films yet cannot recall by name. Snakes is by all means an extremely campy creature film. Equipped with gruesome death scenes, scathing catch phrases, amazingly predictable jokes and obvious plot developments - it reminded me of a cross between the style of Starship Troopers (on the the greatest campy sci-fi films ever made) and the humorous dialogue of Sean of the Dead (one of the most unknown, yet excellent camp films).
This film borrows practically everything from one movie or another, from its characters to its plot developments. You’ve got the accident prone mother trying to protect her newborn baby, the foreign asshole who hates Americans, the token black hip hop character, the ditzy blonde (two of them in fact), the person on their last day of work just hoping for a nice easy shift, and several gen x characters who seem like they’ve been plucked right out of a Mountain Dew commercial, and even the guy who just won’t seem to die. The death scenes however are quite original, except for one or two that feel familiar. One of the most enjoyable things about this film is the abundance of snakebites. Not just ten or twelve, but what seems like fifty or more scenes in which characters are attacked by pissed off serpents, hell-bent on killing anything that moves. Unlike many snake films that tend to depict serpents biting ankles and faces, Snakes featured many unusual bite locations. These included several strikes to bared genitals and even a bite directly to the eyeball, which seemed to retain some originality despite everything else.
As you can probably imagine the film has its share of plot holes, but overall was written quite well. It had the potential to be a very bad movie given the circumstances, but throughout the film I always felt entertained. I applaud the actors and actresses for keeping the film infused with serious moments as well as obviously overacted scenes. It felt very balanced to me, and I think that is why it works despite what one might expect. The end of the film left a little to be desired but was also quite typical of most action films involving planes. Complete with cabin decompression, electrical failure and a flight piloted at one point by a passenger receiving instructions from the air traffic control tower.
Overall, I would give this film a “D” on the regular move scale, but a solid “B” on the campy movie scale. In essence, if you like Samuel L. Jackson you are going to like this movie. If you like camp films such as the Evil Dead series or say just about any of the Cohen brothers movies - you will appreciate this film for what it is. Pure sci-fi campiness, mixed with a bad plot - yet somehow redeemed by cast and crew. If nothing else, the visual effects are well done and the suspense is slowly introduced over time just like it should be. Mix this with the “so awful it’s good” dialogue, and the unusual occurrence of all the black folks in the film surviving and you’ve got yourself a predictable film that still manages to pull off a few surprises. I doubt I’ll see this film again, but at the same time I still feel good about recommending it, so long at the people you recommend it to realize that it’s not to be taken too seriously. So the next time you feel like a little mindless entertainment check it out, perhaps it might “hold a special place in your heart” as well.
