Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Plane pretty much delivers on its promise to feature snakes on a plane, nearly achieving B-movie cult status with its simplistic premise and wooden delivery. Directed by David R. Ellis, Snakes on a Plane developed a large fan base online prior to its release and became somewhat of an internet hit before the film was fully formulated. This led to New Line Cinema added an extra five days of production to the film so that the studio could listen to “fan feedback” and give the people what they wanted. Before and after the film’s release, a firestorm of publicity in the form of parodies and mythologies emerged to pay homage to the film’s premise. But does the actual execution of the film match the fanfare? Quite simply, no.
Snakes on a Plane stars Samuel L. Jackson as FBI agent Neville Flynn. Flynn’s job is to escort a witness (Nathan Phillips) to testify in a high profile case in Los Angeles. Flynn and the witness take a flight from Hawaii, but not before the brutal gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) is able to get a crate of exotic deadly snakes in the cargo hold on their flight. With a time release setup, the snakes are due to be released on the flight in hopes of killing the witness before he can testify. The leis given to passengers on the flight were secretly sprayed with pheromones, making the snakes even more predisposed to attack and more likely to bring the plane down.
As the film introduces the ridiculous premise, we are also introduced to the passengers on the plane. There is rapper Three Gs (Flex Alexander) and his two bodyguards (Kenan Thompson and Keith Dallas). There is rich girl Mercedes (Rachel Blanchard) and her dog Mary Kate, a Latin woman, Maria (Elsa Pataky) and her baby, a kickboxer (Terry Chen), and a British businessman (Gerard Plunkett) who is the prototypically snobby Brit. Along with a few more passengers, including a steamy porno-style couple, we have the flight crew. Led by Claire Miller (Juliana Margulies), the flight crew includes Grace (Lin Shaye), Ken (Bruce James), and Tiffany (Sunny Mabrey). The captain (Tom Butler) and his co-pilot (David Koechner) are also, obviously, along for the ride. The film explores the interactions between all of the passengers and characters before the inevitable release of the snakes.
Of course, the snakes are released in a timely fashion and begin to attack the passengers, mostly starting out by attaching themselves to various passengers’ private parts. These horny snakes begin to wreak havoc even more after the oxygen masks are released from the ceiling and snakes are in all of the vents. Snakes even make their way to the cockpit of the plane, attacking the pilots and leaving Flynn’s mission of guiding his witness to safety in peril. Flynn starts getting his act together, though, and takes on a leadership role on the plane, trying to get the passengers to safety and trying to get the snakes off the plane as quickly as possible.
Snakes on a Plane was written by David Dalessandro, a University of Pittsburgh administrator in his first stint at writing a screenplay. Dalessandro had the idea for the film back in 1992 after reading a nature magazine that featured an article about how an Indonesian brown snake made his way into the cargo hold of a plane. Expanding on the idea, Dalessandro developed the plot that inhabits the film. His draft, originally called Venom, was turned down by 30 studios in 1995. Eventually in 1999, MTV/Paramount producers took note and wanted to have at it, but New Line Cinema ended up with the project instead. The film was originally supposed to be put together by Hong Kong action director Ronny Yu, which got Samuel L. Jackson signed in a big hurry.
Almost instantaneously, the film’s title went to Snakes on a Plane and the internet buzz began through anticipation about the title and about Jackson being the lead actor. Jackson helped matters by noting that the only reason he took the project on was because of the title and the director. Eventually, however, Yu dropped from the project and the new director was brought in. Jackson stayed on and the project remained cohesive, being hyped around the internet continually. The film was given more days of production by New Line after the studio saw what the internet buzz was doing. Listening to the potential fans of the film, New Line ordered the film to be boosted from a PG-13 rating to an R-rating.
When the film was eventually released, however, it turned out that hype outweighed results. The film didn’t do well at the box office at all, although the critical reviews were moderately favourable. In the end, Snakes on a Plane was considered a dud by New Line founder Robert K. Shaye. The hype certainly overextended the final product as related on screen, leaving many audiences pleased but overall not overly impressed. Audiences enjoyed the film, cheering and yelling throughout the film. The problem, in my view, was that the demographic aimed towards by New Line with its countless revisions and lapdog pleasing attempts was far too insignificant to make any significant dent in the film’s overrun.
Snakes on a Plane is a rather enjoyable ride, but it’s not particularly a good one. Many B-movie conventions are present, but they are all keyed upon in a sort of modernized way which sucks the life out of many ideas. Instead of presenting Snakes on a Plane with any sense of real terror and perhaps reverting to a smaller budget, Snakes on a Plane instead feels like a big budget attempt at making schlock. The CGI and animatronic snakes used in the film aren’t nearly campy enough to elicit the sorts of responses expected. 450 real snakes were used in the making of the film, which added to the sense of real terror, but overall the film feels more flat than slithery.
With the potential for real camp terror, Snakes on a Plane instead blows the opportunity with its incessant attempts at trying to please its audience. The “big line” is indeed funny when it does arrive and some of the gags and attempts at getting the snakes off of the plan are laughable, but overall the film lacked a sense of punch and style that made it a banal effort. Jackson is flat for the majority of the film and the characterizations play out like cheap stereotypes rather than interesting people. The snakes exist, but they don’t really maximize the potential for terror, instead choosing to slither around and latch on to body parts in a rather strange fashion. Snakes on a Plane lacks the intensity that would have capitalized on its potential for B-movie trash and, instead, comes off as a moderate effort.
Trailer:
