Snakes On A Plane Review
Ok, so we have all the usual suspects (read caricatures) …and then some. Disaster movie meets tropical reptilians meets Shaft – Can you dig it?
Jackson plays FBI agent Neville Flynn, chaperoning a witness (Phillips) across states to testify against notorious gangster Eddie Kim (Lawson) after witnessing him murder a prosecutor. Flynn saves him from Kim’s stooges, but the kingpin has other plans for the potentially crippling testimony. His henchmen plant a shed load of venomous snakes into the cargo of the plane they’re travelling on. Having been aggravated with pheromones, they’re attacking humans, each other, and the plane itself.
Low and behold Jackson adds the prefix ‘Action’ and goes into blaxpoitation authority mode, “striking down upon thee” and whooping some reptile ass, rather – sending them to snake heaven, as only he knows how.
Snakes On A Plane is soooo simply a movie that probably shouldn’t have got made, how did it get the green light!? Well we could probably liken the pitch-meeting to one of those Orange Wednesday’s ads, I mean he’s even on the phone for half the movie (Afterthought: They also discuss multi-media messaging and e-mailing from phones… freaky). It has B-movie written all over it, and quite frankly, it is one.
But put together tackiness, kitsch, dowdy one-liners and stereo-types, and it makes for bloody good viewing. Oh, and let’s not forget those “motherf***ing snakes on a motherf***ing plane” It’s far from my type of movie (I can’t believe I’m actually writing a review on it) but acting on recommendation I went, and couldn’t help but be bloody entertained by it. It is the cinematic equivalent of a white knuckle ride, with a few nasty knocks along the way. I did find myself jumping with fright at some moments, whilst laughing in incredulity in others.
Samuel L Jackson’s fall from grace could have been deemed complete here, but in a surprise turn of events the movie that should have been the final nail has turned out to be his saving grace… of sorts… or is it!?? After labelling himself unemployable after those notorious credit card ads, his phenomenal career has taken a slightly odd turn. Black Snake Moan anybody? But it’s good to see him back on form, and with some interesting films coming up all the power to him. As per usual he has all the best one-liners, case in point: “You know all those security scenarios we ran? Well I’m smack in the middle of one we didn’t think of…”
The movie has been boosted by a tremendous buzz on-line, and is ultimately a spoof-actioner. It simply does what is says on the tin, and you have Sam thrown in to put the creatures in their lowly place. This is as stupid as it is enjoyable, a crazy premise with gob-smacking consequences. The FX and make-up departments have seriously gone all out and by the looks of it, enjoyed cranking it up tremendously. Don’t take it too seriously, and you probably will too.
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