“Snakes” A Perfect Example Of “So Bad It's Good”

A title like “Snakes on a Plane” harkens back to the black-and-white days of cinema when there were B-titles like “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die,” “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” I’m not making these movies up; they are real.
Why would anyone want to watch snakes attacking people on an airplane for two hours? It is simple: harmless fun.
“Snakes on a Plane” is the most enjoyment you will have in a movie theater this entire year. It is so absurd, so preposterous and so clichéd you can’t help but smile and cringe at every turn of the silly plot. Just sit back, buy the big tub of popcorn and enjoy the two-hours of snakes, Samuel L. Jackson and gratuitous sex, violence and mature content.
Although set up as a genuine story about a villain attempting to murder a witness with hundreds of poisonous snakes on a plane bound from Hawaii to Los Angeles, the movie never really takes itself seriously. Director David R. Ellis plugs in every stereotype he can come up with, including the feminine male flight attendant, the good cop/bad cop tough as nails FBI agents, the plucky female flight attendant on her last flight before a career change, the Paris Hilton-type princess and the smooth-talking rapper who is hated by those who really know him.
Jackson plays Neville Flynn, one of the FBI agents, who is escorting the witness and has to keep the injured alive, the plane in the air and the witness away from the snakes all while trying to figure out what kind of snakes are on the plane and how they got there in the first place. You shouldn’t be trying to figure these things out yourself because it will just take away from the enjoyment that is right in front of you.
Julianna Margulies, of “ER” fame, is the brave flight attendant that helps Jackson calm the passengers and save the day.
With a quick storyline, lots of action and unintentional comedy – the best kind – “Snakes on a Plane” shouldn’t be missed before it falls into the depths of nameless B-movies, which will likely occur a few months after its release to DVD.
“Snakes on a Plane” has been out for several weeks now and although it didn’t have the opening, or staying power, that most anticipated from this sleeper hit, the dramatic anticipation from fans building up to the release was enough entertainment for America without the need of the movie actually being seen.
Reportedly, the only reason this movie was talked about among Hollywood colleagues was because they were trying to one-up each other after work one day during happy hour with the most awful pitch for a movie. The story goes Producer Craig Berenson, who worked for DreamWorks at the time, gave his pitch for this movie based on a script called “Venom.”
Once given the green light and a title change, Jackson instantly pursued a part in the movie after hearing the title, according to interviews. Jackson said the only reason he worked on the movie was because of the title “Snakes on a Plane.”
Once filming began, computerized word-of-mouth began to spread and a cult following formed before anything but a teaser poster was ever seen from the public. As the hype built, New Line Cinema decided to re-shoot scenes for five days in order to push the movie from a PG-13 to an R rating. Among these additions is the highly anticipated line delivered from Jackson about his feelings toward the snakes on the plane, which was added after haring it on an anticipatory Internet parody of the movie.
Then the advertising department came up with a brilliant idea. Jackson was brought in to record several names and occupational fields for a phone recording. Then a website was set up that allowed a person to fill out some general information and plug in a phone number. The number would be called and a voice mail would be recorded with Jackson leaving the listener a message advertising “Snakes on a Plane.”
The publicity and anticipation that built for this movie created a buzz among moviegoers for weeks, but the film’s release failed to generate the money that was expected.
Forget about rationalizing the ludicrous story. Ignore the countless typecasts. Pay no attention to the computerized snakes. Just relax and remember that it could a whole lot worse. You could be watching “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.”