I jumped on the blogging train very late in the game and didn’t really start maintaining an active site until last summer. Along with starting my own blog, I started reading tons of other blogs in order to learn from more experienced bloggers, get ideas for my site, etc.
It was around that time that I first discovered the power of viral marketing, as I read about an upcoming movie called Snakes on a Plane on a bunch of blogs before I ever heard of it through standard entertainment news channels. The movie’s title spawned wild speculation and spoof videos, and there was tons of interest in what really looked to be a “B” movie at best.
Unfortunately, that online interest didn’t translate into box office dollars, and the movie didn’t do as well as might have been expected from all the hype it generated. Once I heard that Snakes on a Plane didn’t live up to the pre-release buzz, I held off on watching it and didn’t actually get around to renting it until last weekend. Here’s my review.
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The film opens in Hawaii with a young man named Sean Jones (played by Nathan Phillips) witnessing the brutal murder of an L.A. prosecutor. The prosecutor was set to take down notorious gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson), but Kim and his goons weren’t about to sit back and let that happen. But this unexpected witness to the execution leaves them with an extra problem on their hands, and they have to deal with Sean before they move on.
Kim’s men somehow track Sean down to his apartment, but just as they’re about to bust in and kill him, FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) arrives on the scene and gets Sean out of there. The next step is for Flynn to escort Sean on a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles so that Sean can testify against Kim. However, Kim’s men once again learn of Sean’s location and flight plans, and plant a huge carton of pheromone-crazed poisonous snakes on the plane. The carton door is rigged with a timer and is set to go off mid-flight.
That’s the basic setup for the film, and the whole reason why there are snakes on the plane in the first place. Then before the plane takes off, we get a brief introduction to some of the other passengers and flight crew, none of whom are “normal,” of course. And finally, the snakes are released on the plane and the rest of the film details Flynn’s efforts to protect the passengers, land the plane safely, and get Sean to court on time.
My Reaction: It’s kind of weird, but I don’t really have a reaction to this film at all! I mean, I didn’t like it, but I didn’t absolutely hate it either. It’s as though director David R. Ellis couldn’t decide if he wanted to take the movie seriously or not, and the end product suffered as a result. If he had gone for a totally campy flick or if he had cleaned up the effects and gone for a more serious action movie, I think the final cut would have been much, much better. As it was, Snakes on a Plane ended up being a middle-of-the-road movie that I simply didn’t know how to react to.
Moreover, I thought the supporting cast could have used a bit of work. I liked Samuel L. Jackson as the FBI agent, and I also thought ER alum Julianna Margulies did reasonably well as flight attendant Claire Miller. But there were opportunities for some big laughs with the other characters that the filmmakers inexplicably didn’t follow up on.
One example that jumps out at me is the rapper Three G’s (Flex Alexander). In the early going, he’s shown to be very conscious about germs, not wanting to touch people, carrying around a bottle of antibacterial cleanser, and all that. But there was absolutely no payoff here, no scene of Three G’s having to get his hands all dirty to save someone or something like that. What a waste!
Because of the way Snakes on a Plane failed to elicit a real response from me, I’m going to give the film 5 stars out of 10. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. It was just… average.