When you see a movie advertised titled Snakes on a Plane what do you anticipate? Will it be a romance? An Academy Award winning drama perhaps? A buddy picture? A clever comedy? If you expected any of these things, you will be disappointed.

However, if you, like my friend and I and an enthusiastic audience for a prescreening were expecting that Snakes on a Plane was about SNAKES on a PLANE, well then, my friends, you will be fully satisfied because Snakes on a Plane is about SNAKES on a PLANE!

Basic Story a.k.a. The PLOT!

Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) has a peaceful life living in Hawaii, until one day he witnesses a murder. Next thing you know a gang is trying to kill him, and then an F.B.I. Agent Nelville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) wants to fly him out to Los Angeles to testify against the bad guys. The same bad guys find out, and come up with an ingenious way to prevent him from testifying. They put Snakes on the Plane!

First we meet our cast of characters as the plane is boarded. Claire Miller (Julianna Margulies) is a flight attendant who is on her last flight, having decided on a career change. The co pilot is David Koechner (40 Year Old Virgin, Thank you for Smoking) We have a bimbo flight attendant, a gay flight attendant, and a retiring flight attendant. Flex Alexander plays a rap star "Three G's" and his posse is played by Kenan Thompson (of Kenan & Kel) and Keith Dallas. A Paris Hilton like woman is on board with her dog in tow, an uptight businessman, newlyweds, lovers, children, the usual assortment of plane passengers. The set up for the movie is about 15 minutes or so, you don't have to wait until the end of the movie to see the snakes on the plane.

Then after South Pacific Airways is well underway to L.A., a timer goes off, and literally dozens and dozens of poisonous snakes are released in the cargo hold and make their way through out the plane; slithering, striking and biting the hapless passengers. This is all you really need to know! It combines the best of fear of flying and fear of snakes all into one movie!

Was Snakes on a Plane Scary?

You bet your snake bit *** it was! I, like many people, have a natural aversion to snakes, especially poisonous ones that bite. Seeing a plane full of poisonous snakes attacking people and dropping down from above and crawling up from below was unnerving and many scenes definitely make you jump. Our sneak preview audience screamed and gasped a lot.

Was Snakes on a Plane Funny?

Yup, plenty of scenes had humor in them to break the tension. This film is not a comedy, but it did have its moments, many provided by Kenan. This movie is played as a fun action/horror movie, and doesn't take itself very seriously. If you sit and think for a long time, you can see how implausable the film is, it isn't serious drama, we are meant to sit back and have fun, which is what the audience here did.

Was Samuel L. Jackson a bad -- mother --?

Samuel L. played the character he has down pat! When Samuel first appeared on the screen he was greeted by the cheers of an audience clearly there to have a good time, and was cheered whenever he delivered one of his trademark Samuel L. speeches of which there were many. Samuel L. is no Indiana Jones, although he hates snakes, he is NOT afraid of them. He was fun to watch and clearly had a great time with this movie.

Why is Snakes Rated R?

Well, aside from plenty of people getting bitten (and yes, killed) by deadly poisonous snakes, one couple joins the mile high club before being rudely interrupted. Samuel L. uses some bad language too! It's time we get these mother***** snakes off this mother ****** plane!

Do the Snakes Look Real?

Oh yeah! These aren't the dopey snakes of Anaconda, they actually look pretty darn real in most scenes!

Direction

David R. Ellis also directed the fast action paced film Cellular and here, he delivers pure adrenaline packed fun. No, Snakes isn't a cinematic masterpiece, but it was fun to watch and decidedly different.

Summary

You get what you pay for when you see Snakes on a Plane. If you were expecting Shakespeare, go home. If you are expecting easy thrills, fast paced excitement and good old fashion scares, and can ignore the implausibility (which is really easy when you just allow yourself to get into the movie), Snakes really delivers good old fashioned movie fun! I wonder if they will ever show this movie as the "in flight" movie on any airline?




Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Scary Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater