Des serpents dans l'avion

I was quite looking forward to this film as I enjoyed David R. Ellis' previous film Cellular and the poster and idea for Snakes on a Plane is just pure high-concept trash. I could have been great, but I was surprisingly bored through-out. I do like popcorn movies, but the popcorn has to taste good and this bucket just has far too much venom in it for me.

After Final Destination 2 and Cellular, David R. Ellis seems to be New Line Cinema's king of B-movies. Since the departure of Ronny Yu from this project, he seemed like the most logical choice. And while he does use some innovative ideas (such as the pretty cool 'snake vision') the film is too darkly shot and edited like a blur. I don't find death to be funny and expected a stronger 'man vs nature' subtext to it. What we get is a man being bitten on the penis and stoners bitten while joining the Mile High Club. And the sudden, stinging attacks never seem to frighten. The first few kills are crass and exploitative and it spoils the mood for the rest of the film.

I know I am being ridiculous criticising a no-brainer film such as this in such a way but even low-grade B-movies like Anaconda and it's sequel managed to be more scary and exciting than this. The characters are set-up in the typical horror film way and it's obvious which ones are going to die one by one. And while their deaths appear to violent, you never REALLY see anything shocking. A film with such an eccentric title really should have gone to crazy, far-fetched extremities and delivered loads of gore. But it never truly seems like it does. The majority of the film seems taped together from various different writers ideas and some scenes definitely feel tacked on after principal photography.

Films set on panic-stricken planes are abundant (Exec Dec, Passenger 57, United 93, Con Air, Die Hard 2) and scenes of crash landings and decompression are nothing new to audiences. The presence of Snakes doesn't make it much different.

Plus, Trevor Rabin's score is total crap. Plain and simple. Uninspired, generic rubbish completely without theme, melody, excitement our even coherence in it's endless bombasticness. I had great hopes for him when he did such brilliant work (actually co-composing) on Con Air and Armageddon, but he's fast proving to be talentless.

Samuel L. Jackson is brilliant as always and the under-rated Julianna Margulies is quite bloody gorgeous, more so than more popular Hollywood actresses. Lin Shaye (a popular New Line actress, since her husband runs the studio) has more to do than usual in the role of a heroic stewardess and those of you who like her more comedic roles will find this a welcome change. Though there's not much else I can recommend.

After all the internet-nerd hype surrounding this film, it fails to live up to potential and expectations. Quite a disappointment!

I'm calling this an "experience" rather than a "review", because a review wouldn't really encapsulate how enjoyable this movie is. If I was forced to review the movie, I'd talk about how slow it is in the beginning, how although some of the dialog is witty quite a lot of it is hackneyed (a scene with SLJ telling JM to "Be strong" was especially cringe-worthy), and the climax didn't have a lot of tension and was a bit disappointing. Five stars out of ten sounds about right, and is perhaps a bit generous.

But I came out of the movie with a smile on my face, because it was fun. The audience was really, really into it. When the title of the movie appeared, everyone cheered (I haven't seen that happen in a movie theater since Episode 1). Every over-the-top "death by snake" was cheered and applauded. The people who were going to die were fairly easily identified, and people eagerly awaited their death scenes. (In a nod to the movie writers, I expected one character to die for being a complete jerk, and they surprised me by having that character survive.) And, as could be expected, when SLJ delivers his much-discussed line towards the end of the film, the audience cheered throughout its entire delivery. I laughed; it was just fun to listen to the audience.

This is not a movie you download via BitTorrent. This is not a movie you watch on cable, or rent via DVD. This is a movie you watch in a crowded movie theater. Because only then will it be fun; only then will the energy of the movie and the audience make the experience worthwhile.

Oh my god. I think I might still be a little excited, since I just got back from the advance screening of Snakes on a Plane. I want to preface this review by saying that IT'S NOT SERIOUS. DO NOT go to this film expecting to see some great, dramatic film because you'll be let down. However, if you want to go and see Samuel L. Jackson kick the holy sh*t out of snakes (on a plane) then this is the film for you. It's dumb B-movie summer fun, and it delivered it by the truckload. It knows it isn't serious (with that title, how could it be), and honestly, the whole time everyone involved is just having FUN with it. So go, sit back, have fun, and see some snakes (on a plane).

The plot on this bad-boy is razor thin with a pathetic, throw-away villain. After witnessing a murder, Sean (Nathan Phillips) is taken into protective custody by the FBI and more specifically, Jackson's Neville Flynn. He has to be flown from Hawaii to LA to testify and blah, blah, blah. Who cares, right? No one, seriously, NO ONE. Our villain, Eddie Kim, is worthless. We get two minutes or so of screen time from him. He's not the villain; the SNAKES are the villains!!!!! The real fireworks start when we GET ON THAT PLANE. You all know what's going to happen, so they don't waste (much) time building up to it. Eventually the snakes (on the plane) are released. People are bitten in hilarious and very painful fashion. Samuel L. Jackson has to control the situation in that bad-ass way that only he can, and he disposes of the snakes in downright hilarious ways (which I won't spoil, you have to see it to believe it). Most of your characters are generally stereotypes and some of the acting is wooden. Most of the characters are very clichéd and stupid as well, and they don't do the most logical things in the situations they are presented. But that's not what you care about. THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT! What is important, is the fact, that there are SNAKES... ON A PLANE! It's cheesy, B-movie fun, and don't let anyone tell you any different. You want to see snakes on a plane, you're going to see snakes on a plane. Period. It also plays homage to some Jackson flicks of old, I'll let you decide which ones, since the scenes are obviously set up in that way. Try to think of other films Jackson has been in with reptiles.

The special effects were PRETTY good; it was obvious when you were looking at a CGI snake or a real snake, that much I can tell you. But it didn't matter. It doesn't take you out of the movie at all. The action is as good as you can expect from people whooping snakes and vice-versa. It was a good thriller, they kept it moving and didn't slow down, and they kept the tension riding high throughout the film. And it's FUNNY. It's funny if you expect it to be cheesy fun, and it is, and I was constantly laughing throughout. Even as snakes (on a plane) are killing people, you're laughing at it. It was just that good.

I don't know what else I can say about this, except that if you have the chance, SEE THIS FILM OPENING WEEKEND. Get a crowd in there that wants to have good, dumb, popcorn-movie fun and you will have a blast. My theater was off the hook, and it's seriously the most fun I've had at the movies in longer than I can remember. Go into this film knowing what it is and watch it with exactly that in mind and you'll have a GREAT time. Expect nothing from it and just let yourself have fun for a couple of hours. This film won't be the darling of the critics; it wasn't pre-screened because the makers KNOW what this film is and what they expect from it. I can't think of another instance where a film drew this kind of buzz on its title alone, and where everyone who went to see it completely knew it was going to be "so bad it's good." And it really is. Kudos to the studio that ordered re-shoots after all the buzz on the internet kicked in, it really shines. And thanks for the "line" which is quoted at the head of the review. Everyone in my theater said it with him, and EVERYONE was cheering.

Snakes on a Plane has landed. And it's good summer fun. With snakes. On a plane. Eight out of ten stars.

• Sgt. Fluffy

A lot of people on IMDb have given Snakes on a Plane a 10/10 rating and left comments like "omg this is best movie ever lol." Unfortunately, most of these people had come to this conclusion before seeing the movie, and are still high on the Internet hype that built the movie up to be something it's not.

I guess there's no real point to writing a review of Snakes On A Plane. With a title like that, you've already made up your mind about if you want to see it. But keep this in mind...

Snakes On A Plane isn't a comedy movie. It isn't a horribly cheesy or bad (intentionally or not) movie, either, or one that's "so bad it's good," which is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot in SOAP discussions. Also, the movie's not all about Samuel L. Jackson being a badass or swearing a lot, although it happens. Snakes On A Plane is a entertaining mid-grade thriller movie that pretty much delivers what you'd expect from a Hollywood movie about snakes on an airplane. No more, no less.

Don't see this movie if you're expecting to constantly laugh at Samuel L. Jackson showing off how cool he is. There are plenty of moments where Sam kicks ass and gives some great one-liners and does amusing things, but he is offscreen just as often as he is on it.

Snakes On A Plane isn't the best movie of the year. It's not the funniest movie of the year or the scariest, but it is a good movie if you're looking for mindless fun involving a lot of snakes on an airplane, some gratuitous gore and nudity, and a few great Samuel L. Jackson moments, check it out.

The best review of the film portion of this movie is from the Onion AV Club. It sums up Sam Jackson's performance as "done on his lunchbreak while filming a lesser degrading film". And yet, he's the best dang part of the whole thing. What this movie needed was more of him vs. the Snakes which never reaches the insanity of a "Dead Alive" and instead fizzles out in one of the lamer endings in recent cinemadom. You get snakes, on a plane. And some great B- horror moments that'll make you laugh, but this is not a cult classic. Despite people's want for a cult classic here, it's far too normal for that. Instead check out the aforementioned "Dead alive" (aka Brain Dead) or Tsui Hark's hilariously straight "Knock Off" with Van Damm & Rob Schneider. THOSE were bad good flicks this is one is just ho-hum.

On the other hand, the audience is hot for Snakes. As stephanie from salon.com says, if you're going to see Snakes, do so now with the packed evening screenings. People throwing rubber snakes, reciting sam's line and making hissing noises throughout makes for theme park ride levels of fun.