Ignore the stupid title. Ignore the internet hype. Snakes on a Plane (IMDb) is the most fun movie I have seen all summer.
plot & premise
Snakes on a Plane (SoaP) is the epitome of a fun summer movie. A simple premise fleshed out by quality actors and some cool effects. The problem with most summer movies is that they pretend to be more than they are. They want to be emotionally deep or thinking movies, but don’t invest the effort to do so and come off as lackluster. SoaP is not one of those movies. It’s a film that sets out only to be entertaining… and does what it promises.
The plot of SoaP is simple, so simple it’s actually kinda stupid. A dude witnesses a murder in Hawaii and is enlisted by the FBI to testify against a crime lord in LA. So they hop on a plane and fly to LA. The crime lord (who is obviously Cobra Commander from G.I.Joe) decides that the best way to rid himself of this witness is to have the plane infested with poisonous snakes. Hilarity ensues.
Yep, I said hilarity. This is an incredibly funny movie. I don’t know if it was intentionally funny, but my friends and I spent the duration of the film laughing our asses off. The people die in entertaining ways and you spend more time laughing about stupid things like where people get bitten than cringing in terror.
characters & development
You’ll notice in my little synopsis that I mentioned no characters’ names. It’s cause I don’t remember any of them. No one will. Every character is a stereotype. The asian guy knows kung-fu, the blond with big boods is a slut, the hispanic woman is carrying her baby in a sling. It gets ridiculous. The only character you’ll care about is Agent Nelville Flynn, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson does a really good job of playing… well, himself. Let’s get this straight… Jackson is a well rounded actor who can play the gamut of roles. But what this man does best is take charge and be bad ass.
SoaP is basically Jackson being bad ass, kicking ass and pointing at people while yelling orders for about 1.5 hours. That’s what people want to see. That’s why I paid for my ticket. I wanted to see Samuel L. Jackson get some MUTHA F*@#!N SNAKES OF A MUTHA F*@#!N PLANE!!! (BTW, there was cheering in the theatre when Jackson shouted that line!) The best part is that Jackson doesn’t just phone it in. He actually does and damn good job of making his character the most believable and the star of the show.
Julianna Margulies, from the Sopranos, also does a good job as Claire, the flight attendant who has the bad luck of this happening on her last day. She defines her character well enough to stand next to Jackson without being totally forgettable.
conclusion
As I said earlier, SoaP is a simple and at times stupid movie. I’ve given simple films poor reviews in the past, but I’m singing the praises to this one. Why is that? Because SoaP doesn’t pretend to be anything other than stupid fun. It doesn’t try to teach you anything about emotional growth, coming of age, snakes or planes. SoaP just smacks you upside the head with everything from it’s dumb title to its simple premise. It promises to entertain you and it delivers. When you ask for a ticket to see Snakes on a Plane, that’s exactly what you’ll get.
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