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54%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #1,256
...out of 20,690 movies
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Neville Flynn escorts a witness onto a plane headed for Los Angeles. Problem is, an assassin bent on killing the witness has released a crate containing about 450 snakes onto the same plane. When Neville finds out, he determines to do his job and get the snakes back where they belong: on land. Or in snake heaven, where they'd be harmless. Can he get the snakes off the plane before it's too late?
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: January 8, 2007
There are a few questions that I ask myself when reviewing movies on this site, and the main one is simply "Did it entertain me?" I personally don't care if a movie features a lackluster script, bad acting, or horrible special effects - at the end of the day, all I really want is some entertainment, and I'm content if it manages to do that despite its flaws. The second thing that I ask myself is "Did it deliver what was promised?" What I mean by that is simple: if it's a horror movie, I want to see a couple of good frights, and if it's a comedy, I want to laugh. That's not asking for a whole lot out of a movie, but you'd be surprised at how many directors seem to forget to add these vital elements to their films these days. When you judge Snakes on a Plane as a serious, thought-provoking film that will stimulate your mind and deliver award-winning performances, it fails; however, when you judge it by the criteria that I just laid out, it's a highly-recommended film.
The premise for this film is quite simple to sum up: there's a lot of venomous snakes, and they're on a plane. See how the title just completely summed up the movie? Again, more films should take note of that, but that's getting a bit off subject. This scenario comes to be when a young slacker named Sean (Nathan Phillips) witnesses notorious gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) murder the prosecuting attorney for his case. Sean manages to escape the scene, but it sort of goes without saying that Kim wants the lone witness to "disappear" so that he can get away with his latest crime. Enter FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson), a man who wants to see Kim put behind bars and intends to protect Sean long enough for him testify in order to make that happen. The problem arises when Neville and Sean board a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles in order to make the court date, as they soon learn that Kim has rigged a device to set loose hundreds of highly venomous, pissed-off snakes on board the plane once it takes off.
In my eyes, what makes this film work is the fact that it delivers exactly what it promised and did it in a highly entertaining fashion. Sure, the storyline throws logic, common sense, and science out the window in various parts of the script and the CGI effects are lacking in certain parts of the film, so if you judge it based on those merits, then you'll probably walk away disappointed. However you're definitely in for a treat if you view Snakes for what it truly is - a glorified b-movie with plenty of laughs, frights, and action.
My thoughts on this movie may come as a bit of a shock to some of you readers, considering the fact that this film didn't even come close to living up to the box-office expectations and was almost universally slammed by the "major" critics. The reasoning for that, in my opinion, was the internet hype and the impossibly-high expectations that it set. I won't go into details about how the title of this movie, the infamous quote, and various screen captures were plastered on just about every site and forum online since that topic has been covered to death (and I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about regardless), but I feel truly believe that all of that hype led to expectations that simply couldn't be fulfilled. You have viewers thinking that they're going in to see a life-changing film that will blow everything else in the history of cinema away, and when it turns out to be "just another movie", there's obviously going to be disappointment. It's true that this isn't a film that will top any year-end lists or wind up on many favorites lists, but for a mindless ninety minutes of pure entertainment, it works out wonderfully.
If you haven't already checked it out, ignore the massive amounts of hype that was built up around the characters, plot, and overall film and pick up a copy if you're in the mood for an entertaining night in front of the television. 8/10.
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#1:
bluemeanie
- added January 9, 2007 at 2:48pm
I am glad someone finally got around to reviewing
this one. I saw the film on opening night, but
never got around to writing a review for it,
simply because I was so incredibly pissed off.
"Snakes On A Plane" was a disaster of epic
proportions. The internet buzz this film acquired
was staggering, and I expected something
moderately passable. It was awful. Just plain
awful. One of the worst films I have ever seen,
and not in a fun, cheesy way, but in a sad, 'we
thought this would be cool but were wrong' way.
Samuel L. Jackson is awful, most likely because
the words coming out of his mouth are awful. He
has no business in a film like this. If anything,
this film teaches us to avoid internet buzz.
0/10.
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#2:
Chad
- added January 10, 2007 at 12:02am
If you look at it for what it is - a mindless
action / comedy flick - then how could you not
love it? You have an incredibly unlikely scenario
that actually works given the context of the film,
some great lines (and not just "the" line,
either), and an entertaining battle between these
people and the snakes. I'll admit that it was
overhyped, but given the amount of hype
surrounding it in the first place, it could have
turned out to be the best film of the last sixty
years and still not lived up to it. Also, Samuel
L. Jackson + awful should never be used in the
same sentence. The man could sit on a stool and
read the phone book for ninety minutes and still
walk away with praise.
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#3:
BuryMeAlive
- added January 10, 2007 at 5:01pm
I agre with MvMMDI , you gotta take it for what it
is.
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#4:
bluemeanie
- added January 10, 2007 at 5:45pm
I had no problem with the premise. I thought it
was creative. I had no problem with their wanting
it to be a fun, cheesy action flick. However,
they failed at it. The dialogue was weak, weak,
weak -- if you're going for cheese, at least make
it intelligent cheese. This script was abismal.
And, in this case, Samuel L. Jackson + awful is
dead-on. Samuel L. Jackson is one of those actors
who is always himself -- just a different version
of himself. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it
does not. It didn't here. I felt bad for him.
The special effects were atrocious, and maybe that
is what they were going for, but if you're going
to give an audience this kind of insanity, at
least make it somewhat worth our while. I didn't
laugh one during this film. I almost walked out.
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#5:
grain of sand
- added January 11, 2007 at 2:15am
this movie is really funny
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#6:
Cryptorchild
- added January 12, 2007 at 5:47pm
Snakes On a Plane is a great movie. And I think
it was a sucess on many levels. I don't think it
lived up to "the hype" but come on, what film can,
given THAT much hype was just plain crazy. It's a
good film and I enjoyed it and I say fuck all the
hype and watch it as you would any other movie.
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#7:
thereans
- added January 12, 2007 at 8:13pm
i must have missed all the hype because i first
heard about snakes on a plane when it came out at
the movies although i didnt get around to watching
it til the other day because i expected it to be
an awful pile of crap... well wouldnt you know it,
the movie completely lived up to my expectations.
the only reason we hired the movie was for "the"
line and it was so inappropriately placed that it
was completely ruined. i dont care if expectation
for the film was unreasonably high... it doesnt
stop this film from being the biggest turd that
was ever smeared across a movie screen so stop
defending it. it barely even delivers what
promises in the title because the snakes are so
completely unrealistic, both in their visual
appearance and behaviour. it was so bad that it
was almost good. we laughed the whole way through;
but you dont laugh with the film, you laugh at it.
it is so sad that movies like this are being
produced that there's nothing left to do but
laugh. this movie basically sums up everything
that is wrong with society today. if you want to
see a good action/comedy flick watch true lies,
snatch or lock stock and two smoking barrels. if
you want to see Samuel L. Jackson pump out some
golden lines then watch pulp ficton. if you want
to laugh at an awful movie see snakes on a plane,
just dont expect to get anything more out of this
movie. i think MvMMDI should consider looking for
a different reviewer. 0/10
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#8:
Chad
- added January 12, 2007 at 8:55pm
I should review mainstream new releases more
often; I've certainly got a lot of people riled up
with this one. I shudder to think what the
reaction will be like when Plane Dead (aka Zombies
on a Plane) comes out.
thereans - You
say that it didn't deliver what was promised
(snakes on a plane) because the actual snakes were
"so completely unrealistic, both in their visual
appearance and behaviour [sic]", and I'll admit
that the CGI usage was fairly bad (I said that in
the review as well), but let's not forget that
they used close to 500 real snakes in this movie
(yes, real live snakes). Whether you liked it or
not, you can't say that it didn't deliver what was
promised.
Your comment leads me to
believe that you were looking for something along
the lines of True Romance, Snatch, or Pulp Fiction
(all good movies, no doubt), but if that's the
case, then it's no wonder that you were
disappointed: this does not attempt to be a
high-brow movie, so you shouldn't expect it to
come off as one. If that's not your cup of tea,
then you're certainly entitled to your opinion -
just don't expect something like Pulp Fiction 2
from a movie called "Snakes on a Plane."
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#9:
bluemeanie
- added January 17, 2007 at 5:32pm
But, what made the film worse is that it was in
Samuel L. Jackson's feet that he could not come
within 10 feet of a live snake, which is why the
only real snakes you see in the film are far, far
away from the star of the film. Bad idea there.
I wasn't looking for anything other than what the
movie promised -- the other poster might have
been, but when I go into a film entitled "Snakes
On A Plane", I expect accordingly. However, what
it gave me was a spoof of itself. It got so
caught up in the public reaction and the internet
buzz that it turned into a joke. Oh, and let us
not forget that most of the virgin nerds out there
who hyped up the film so much didn't even bother
to see it in the theatres. Otherwise, it wouldn't
have been a bomb. And, yes, compared to what was
originally predicted, "Snakes On A Plane" was a
bomb. After people saw it finally they realized
that it was as awful as it originally sounded. I
don't mind ridiculous plots if they're well
executed. This film was just pathetic.
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#10:
Crispy
- added February 1, 2007 at 3:06pm
This movie is definately a love it or hate it
ordeal. Personally I thought it was pretty good,
but I'm realy not surprised so many people didn't.
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#11:
Dametria
- added April 24, 2007 at 12:26pm
I KNOW its a spoof, It supposed to be funny, silly
horror-ISH movie. But man I could NOT sit thru
this thing! I tried twice and didnt get very far
either time. Its just TOO retarded.
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#12:
Tristan
- added May 13, 2007 at 11:26pm
This movie wasn't even good, in that bad sort of
way. It was just plain bad. I was waiting for the
movie to realize it stunk, and become a cheesy
action-comedy. No dice. It actually tried to come
off as a legitimate movie, which is what made it
absolutely horrendous. I'm so disappointed I saw
this shitty movie in the theaters. 2/10
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