Snakes On A Plane

Well it had to happen eventually.

For pretty much all of my life I have been a fan of film, a 1000+ dvd library is a testament to that (I truly dread the forthcoming obsolescence when the next big thing comes around, and don't even try to tell me that Blu-Ray is the next big thing, the quality improvement is not great enough to warrant such accolade). In my early teens I discovered a love for the old B-Movies of the 50s and 60s, ie Them, War Of The Worlds, and some movie involving giant mutant killer snails that I can't actually remember the name of (I suspect that it was called 'They').

I even like most modern B-Movies. Lake Placid (commonly known as Lake Shite amongst my friends) I actually quite enjoyed. 8 Legged Freaks, awesome. Slither, pure gold. I think that you can see where I am going with this. The very definition of a B-Movie is some preposterous monster situation being fitted into a real life scenario.

With that in mind you have to take SOAP as a B-Movie, and it is. And it is quite great. People mainly hate this movie because they were expecting a Hollywood blockbuster starring Samuel L Jackson as James T Hardass, a man so cold bloodedly awesome that the snakes would shy away from the very sight of him lest they become lethargic and weak (reptiles being cold blooded).

I like this movie for many reasons. It is a B-Movie through and through. The gay guy had a plot twist. The film-makers involved the fans in a nigh on unprecedented level. They added an extra 5 days of shooting so that Sammy J could swear more (he liked the fan-trailer line "I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane" so much that he insisted it be added). Plus to quote another line from a fan trailer, "It's called Snakes On A Plane because Samuel L Jackson said so!", that's right, he said that he would walk if they changed the name from that of the working title.

It's your typical B-Movie fare really, a bit of implausible back story in order to swiftly get to the monsters. Followed by a lot of death and despair. And swearing.

The acting generally isn't bad, the comic moments are nice, the action is good. For everything else I have to refer you back to the fact that it is a B-Movie and meant to be implausible.

Overall, I like Snakes On A Plane and I think that you will too so long as you take it as a B-Movie (you may have noticed that I am trying to stress this fact). If you are expecting some Hollywood blockbuster/masterpiece I guarantee that you will be disappointed.

Rating: B (rather appropriately I think)