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Tuesday, 29 August 2006 20:11 |
 Active Image | Meg Hale
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No one is ever going to mistake the new thriller "Snakes on a Plane"
for an art film that just cleaned up at Sundance, but there may be more
value than one would expect.
Actually, no, it is exactly what you expect. It is a relatively cheesy,
semi-gory suspense flick about an assassination attempt by means of
decent computer-generated snakes loosed on an airplane. Whatës amazing
about the movie is all the hooplah that went into making it.
The film was a cult hit before it even came out in theaters. When word of actor Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction") doing a movie where he fought off venomous snakes on a plane hit the Internet, chat rooms became flooded with parodies and one-liners that should have been in the movie.
One line in particular was said so often on the Internet, that after the film was ready for release, the filmmakers went back to shooting for an extra five days to add the line to the movie. We all know the line: "I want these m*th#rf-at-ck^ng snakes off this m%th$rf&ck^ng plane!" This, coupled with an utterly gratuitous sex scene took the film from its PG-13 rating to an R. I think this is a good thing because, if I had kids under 13, I wouldnët want them seeing parts of this movie.
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The premise of the movie came from a bar bet to come up with the worst movie pitch. This filmës premise was the suggestion of producer David Berenson. Whatës more, the title of the film was supposed to have been changed to "Pacific Air Flight 121." Jackson insisted that they keep the title "Snakes on a Plane," stating, "Thatës the only reason I took the job: I read the title."
The film was directed by stuntman-turned-director David R. Ellis, who brought use such wastes of film as "Cellular" and "Final Destination II." So, he knows how to produce fluff. In the case of "Snakes on a Plane," however, the combination of fluff and scales seems to work.
"Snakes on a Plane" has been called the best audience-participation film since "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Now, when I saw it, it was four in the afternoon on a Wednesday and nobody was throwing rubber snakes around, nor shouting out lines along with Jackson. It was still fun though.
That is the state of mind that is required to enjoy this movie. The film is a tiny step from being entirely forked tongue and cheek. Snakes bite genitals and breasts; they slither up womenës skirts, and eat pet cats and Chihuahuas. One has to embrace that before going into the movie.
The special effects for the snakes in the film are decent, easily giving everybody in the audience a case of Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes). Reportedly, 450 live snakes were also used to make the movie. They slither around and pop out, making you want to pull your sandaled feet up into your chair. The scares are good, the ickiness valid and Samuel L. Jackson is properly cool in the role of FBI agent Nelville Flynn.
Speaking of cool, Julianna Margulies ("ER") plays opposite Jackson, as flight attendant Claire Miller, and does a great job at fighting off snakes herself. I havenët seen Margulies since her tour de poop in "Ghost Ship" in 2002. So, it was nice to see her in better film, not that you get much worse than "Ghost Ship."
While none of "Snakes on a Plane" surprised me, I thought it was totally worth seeing. It contains nudity, sex and lots of scary snakes and nasty corpses. It had almost no relevant film content whatsoever. Still, I recommend it to anybody who needs to take an hour or two out of their day and focus on some fabulous tripe. It is an essential movie for anyone who cares to see a former Jedi battle a cobra. I give it four of my six planets.
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