Snakes on a Plane (2006)

[baumer]

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[baumer]

I've always had this crazy theory that watching movies should be fun. Watching movies should be entertaining. Watching movies should an experience. Perhaps that's why I just don't like films such as Citizen Kane, Million Dollar Baby and Good Night and Good Luck. They may be well made but damn they are boring. Going into Snakes on a Plane, or SOAP, as the internet geeks like to refer to it, I knew exactly what I was getting into. I wasn't about to watch American Beauty or Crash. What I was about to watch was a film that looked like fun. It looked something that was made for the fans of such films and knowing that Samuel Jackson was going to spew some of his venomous diatribes (pun intended), I simply couldn't wait to see this. To say SOAP is entertaining is like saying it rains a lot in Vancouver. This is without a doubt the most fun I've had at the movies in years. The last time I felt this exhilarated watching a movie is maybe in Attack of the Clones when Yoda first ignites his lightsabre. This is fun, entertaining and made for the fans by people who actually care what we think. This is a dichotomy in theories comparing it to directors like Tarantino, who clearly make films for themselves. This is made for the fans.

David Ellis (Final Destination 2) directs with a frenetic pace and uses the snakes in every way imaginable. The slithery killers do all the nastiest things possible to antagonize and ultimately kill as many passengers as possible. But not only do they kill, they slide up people's dresses, they come out of air ducts and go into people's eyes, they pop out of people's mouths and they are just nasty little thugs in the film. Think of all the evil gremlins in both films, and you have the snakes in here. They have personalities, just like Spike did, and they ultimately do enough mischievous things in here to ease some of the tension and turn it into humour. Snakes on a Plane never stops trying to entertain.

Samuel Jackson plays Neville Flynn, who is in charge of bringing a witness from Hawaii to Los Angeles to testify against a crime boss. Together they board a plane that has hundreds of snakes loaded on board that have been sprayed with some kind of potion that turns them into bloodthirsty killers. Apparently snakes are supposed to be docile creatures unless provoked. This potion does plenty to provoke them, and like Nevile Flynn says in the film, "Great, snakes on crack!" There are all kinds of witty one liners like this one that culminates with Jackson sounding very Pulp Fiction like when he reaches his breaking point and yells, "I've had it with these ***%^$#*** snakes on this **%$$#@@** plane!" These lines and a few other scenes were added after the fact, when this film took a life of it's own on the internet. Samuel Jackson came back, recorded some additional lines for the film and the rest they say is history.

I realize this film is a very hit and miss film. Many love it, many despise it. I don't really understand what there is to hate about it. It is fun and very entertaining. And what more can you ask for in a film? 10/10...one of the cheesiest films ever but so much fun.