Snakes on a Plane - Review

Last night I went to see Snakes on a Plane (SoaP).

"Hello ladies..."

At the risk of sounding like Harry Knowles, I'm going to give a quick back story: I'm doing my thesis on the Internet phenomenon of SoaP and I've been waiting for it to come out forever. I was actually getting quite over the whole thing. What I think about the film doesn't actually matter, but its fun to write about. My brother, his gf and I went to dinner and then went to a 9.30pm session at Melbourne Central. Thankfully, we got good seats.


It was one of the best cinematic experiences of my life. The audience was rowdy and raucous and completely appreciative of the cheese they'd been given to eat. It was just so silly.


Yes, it was cheesy, B-turned-A movie that very nearly wreaked itself from too much hype...but it was a good cheesy B-turned-A movie. I had a blast.


First of all, it was scary. The first "Snake Attack" scene in the major cabin area was incredibly violent, graphic, claustrophobic and distressing. I was quite scared. THE SNAKES WERE CRAZY!


Second of all, the actors were all really, really good. Julianna Margulies, Bobby Cannavale, Todd Louiso, David Koechner, Rachel Blanchard - these are the best of the best B-but-should-be-A actors out there!!!! I mean, Todd Louiso and Bobby Cannavale doing the whole cop/expert thing - please, I would've seen it just for that scene!


Third of all, Samuel L. Jackson owns. His three best moments:
3) Picking up that yellow snake and just slapping it on the railing.
2) Taking the gun calmly off the crazy rapper. Very Jack Baur.
1) I'm not even going to say the line....you all know it. It was awesome. The theatre erupted.


I'd like to praise the filmmakers for not letting the hype carry the film too much. Sure, it was still a B-level script, but it could've been a C-level script with the amount of hype. There were genuine moments of humour, suspense, action, and a few attempted moments of pathos that weren't too cringy. There were a few missed opportunities. I would've loved to see the kick boxer guy kick some snake ass. I thought the cinematography could've been a little better, but I was still in the space created.


It played very predictably, but since the surrounding kerfuffle of this movie has been anything but predictable because we've never seen anything like it, that's ok.


If you go in wanting a thrilling action horror - you will be adequately fulfilled.
If you go in wanting camp tongue-in-cheek - ditto.


Have fun with it, kids.

Sequel idea: Cheetah on a Bus. I wouldn't want to meet one.

Man, I really suck at writing reviews.