The buzz on this movie began a long time ago. Film geeks and Internet geeks heard about a movie being made called "Snakes on a Plane," and then it started. The title got people really excited about the film, and it became the talk of the 'Net. People were excited about the film before they even saw any footage. All they knew was that a movie was being made called "Snakes on a Plane," and it starred Samuel L. Jackson. Anticipation was huge, and then, for whatever reason, New Line decided to change the title to "Pacific Air Flight 121." Bad move. Film geeks were pissed, Internet geeks were pissed, and even Samuel L. Jackson himself was pissed. New Line was quickly made aware of the furor on the 'Net (and I'm sure Samuel L. Jackson made his opinion known), and the title was quickly changed back to "Snakes on a Plane." Not only that, months after principal photography was completed, New Line allowed for five days of reshoots to take the movie from a PG-13-rated film to an R-rated film. It's a good thing, too, 'cause the best things in this movie are the things that give it an R-rating.
This is a tough movie to review, because in actuality, it's pretty bad... which is exactly what it's supposed to be. It didn't set out to be a masterpiece, it set out to be the kinda thing you'd expect from a movie titled "Snakes on a Plane," and yes, it delivers. Knowing ahead of time that it's supposed to be cheesy makes it easier to accept the flaws of the film, especially since the flaws are probably there on purpose. But does it make for an entertaining movie? Well, yes, it does, at least for me. Still, I can't say that I totally loved the movie, and after all is said and done, it's really just a gimmick movie filled with cool moments. I definitely enjoyed "Snakes on a Plane," it was goofy, amusing fun, but that's really all it was. Nothing more, nothing less.
As I mentioned earlier, "Snakes on a Plane" stars Samuel L. Jackson, and he's excellent in the movie. His presence in the film makes it a lot better than it has any business being, and his performance here further enhances his reputation as the go-to badass in movies. A couple of supporting standouts in the film are Julianna Margulies (you may remember her from "ER") as a level-headed flight attendant and David Koechner ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Waiting," "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," the TV show, "The Office"), who's perfectly cast as the pilot who thinks he's a stud, but is actually quite the opposite. He's hilarious.
"Snakes on a Plane" was directed by David R. Ellis, who also directed "Cellular" (which I liked) and "Final Destination 2" (which I never saw). He did a good job with the movie, even though it probably could have been a tad shorter. The story was written by David Dalessandro and John Heffernan, both of whom are making their writing debut with this film. The screenplay was written by Heffernan, along with Sebastian Gutierrez. You may not know who Sebastian Gutierrez is, but trust me when I tell you that he's one of the luckiest guys in the world. Wanna know why? 'Cause he's Carla Gugino's boyfriend. She's really hot. She looked especially yummy in "Sin City." Sebastian Gutierrez was a writer on the short-lived TV series "Karen Sisco," which starred Carla Gugino, and I guess that's where he met her. He also wrote "Gothika" and "The Big Bounce," neither of which I've seen. The screenplay is pretty good, considering the kind it is, but I can't get over the fact that one of the writers gets to go home to Carla Gugino every night. Seriously, that guy has it good.
This might seem like a stupid question, but shouldn't the title be "Snakes IN a Plane" rather than "Snakes ON a Plane"? Think about it. The people and the snakes aren't really on the plane, they're inside of it. Right? Therefore, I think that as great as the title is, it should have been "Snakes in a Plane."
Anyway...
"Snakes on a Plane" is a movie that accomplishes exactly what it set out to do, and on that level, it's really good. The only problem is that even though I got what I wanted out of it, there were no surprises. It has the cheesy dialogue, the cool snake attacks, the overly dramatic death scenes, and the gratuitous nudity, but nothing to give it that extra bit of awesomeness. I can't say that I was disappointed, because the movie delivered what was expected of it, but I think the filmmakers should have aimed higher. And seriously, it's a good thing that they decided to make it an R-rated film, 'cause a PG-13 version of this movie would have been pretty lame, and my review wouldn't have been nearly as kind.
Scale of 1-10: 7