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Snakes On A Plane |
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By : Suzanne Philips |
Movie Reviews List | |
| SNAKES ON A PLANE Directed by: David R. Ellis (CELLULAR) Written by: John Heffernan and Sebastian Gutierrez Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies (ER), Kenan Thompson (FAT ALBERT), Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek) Rated R Running Time: 1 hour 45 min After witnessing the brutal murder of an L.A. prosecutor in Hawaii by crime lord Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson), surfer Sean Jones (Phillips) is convinced by Agent Nelville Flynn (Jackson) to fly back to Los Angeles to testify. Unfortunately, Kim and his associates have sent along a little present for the flight - a whole bunch of poisonous snakes! I went into SNAKES ON A PLANE expecting a bad "B" movie - one of those films that are so bad that in a strange way it is good. I was very pleasantly surprised that I actually really enjoyed this film! This is certainly a "B" movie through and through. The characters are highly stereotypical (the flaming male flight attendant, the chauvinistic co-pilot, the cute surfer boy, the annoyed businessman, the socialite along with miniature dog), the plot is farfetched and completely laughable and the filming style is classic late-night TV viewing. However, when you put all this together it does work on some level. I think what really surprised and pleased me was that the script was really well written. The dialogue, while somewhat obvious, was witty and comical. The actors and director were obviously not afraid to make fun of themselves or the genre and it made it work. I think if the script had been weaker, the film would have flopped. I liked that the first and last scenes in the film were light and somewhat fluffy, which made a very nice contrast to the rest of the scenes on the plane. I though the timing was good and I honestly laughed out loud frequently during the first half of the film. The second half of the film, once the snakes begin to unleash their havoc, fell apart a bit as the thrust of the plot becomes watching the snakes and the characters from the snakes point of view. It does drag a bit in this section. While I didn't find SNAKES ON A PLANE to be particularly scary in the least, there are a number of violent and graphic scenes, so keep that in mind if you have children or anyone sensitive to those things. A friend said to me that SNAKES is best approached with a kind of ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW mentality. Take gummy snakes to throw at the screen, hiss, scream, grab your neighbor and laugh out loud. While certainly not a great film, if you can let yourself just enjoy the kitsch, SNAKES ON A PLANE can be a really fun ride. 3 1/2 out of 5 |
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