Snakes on a Plane Review
by news.west.earthlink.net (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)August 22nd, 2006
SNAKES ON A PLANE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
SNAKES ON A PLANE, by David R. Ellis (CELLULAR), is a first class B movie set in a snake-infested airplane high over the ocean. On Pacific Air Flight 121, a tough as nails FBI agent named Nelville Flynn, played with confident swagger by a perfectly cast Samuel L. Jackson, is doing his best to protect a rapidly dying group of passengers as deadly snakes are making mincemeat out of them. But, in one of the funnier movies of a dismal summer, you can put your money on Jackson to win. The only real questions are who will die first and who will be left standing when the plane touches down in L.A.
The only problem with SNAKES ON A PLANE has nothing to do with the movie per se but with New Line Cinema's overconfident marketing. Having convinced themselves that the intensity of the Internet buzz was enough to make the picture presold, they decided all they needed to do was to arrange for an ultrawide opening and then wait for the deluge of fans to show up. The advertising budget was reduced and the advanced screenings to critics were eliminated since both appeared superfluous to the studio for a movie with a guaranteed -- or so they thought -- big box office. The movie opened to disappointing results. The reason you might care is that this is the sort of film that is best viewed with a large and boisterous audience. When we saw it, there were only a dozen people in a theater that could hold six hundred.
The story opens with innocent bystander Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) accidentally witnessing the nefarious Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) and his gang killing an L.A. prosecutor who was on vacation in Hawaii. Agent Flynn later rescues Sean from some of Eddie's hired killers. Agent Flynn insists that the only way Sean will ever be safe is for him to accompany Flynn to L.A. to testify in the trial against Eddie. Of course, Eddie got a big surprise for the flight -- some snake stowaways who are over-stimulated by the scent-loaded leis onboard.
In a film that is fun and funny, the snakes start taking people out before others realize the danger on the aircraft. People go about their business, not knowing of the peril the hazards under their feet. One horny couple, for example, heads to the restroom, where they plan to smoke dope and join the mile high club. In a movie that never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously, the woman is happy to take off her top for us that we can admire her store-bought breasts.
The smartest thing the producers did was to shoot for an R rated film. Reportedly their original intention was for a tamer PG-13 version. Armed with the freedom that an R gives them, the filmmakers were happy to amp up the violence, while still not turning it into some kind of gorefest. Still, some people do die quite horrendously, including ones not killed by hissing reptiles. One guy, for example, gets impaled in the eye by a woman's high heel in a stampede caused by snake pandemonium.
The humans do get their revenge in frequently humorous ways. An apparently gay flight attendant pops one snake in the microwave and tells it, "Now, who's your daddy, bitch!"
Julianna Margulies, the long-time head nurse on "ER," plays Claire Miller, the head stewardess on the flight. As the death toll mounts, the plane is left with only a one-handed copilot -- a snake incapacitated one of his arms -- to fly the plane home though horrible storms. Claire asks Rick (David Koechner) if he is capable of flying them to safety with just a single hand on the controls. The ever-raunchy Rick gives her a confident smile and informs her, "Hey Baby, you'd be amazed at what a guy can do with only one hand."
As the plane approaches California and the problems appear to be resolved, you can trust movie logic to throw many more roadblocks in their way before they are completely safe and sound.
SNAKES ON A PLANE is easily the best popcorn movie of the summer.
SNAKES ON A PLANE runs a well paced 1:45. It is rated R for "language, a scene of sexuality and drug use, and intense sequences of terror and violence" and would be acceptable for most teenagers.
My son Jeffrey, age 17, gave it *** 1/2, saying that he found it campy fun. He liked the way they went with the R rating. He remarked that he was glad they only chose one well-known actor since that kept you guessing about who would die and who live. His girlfriend Yasmin, also 17, gave it ***, saying that it was a lot of fun and really trippy.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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