What you expect is what you're going to get....
Review:
It’s hard to describe who exactly is the bigger star in “Snakes on a Plane”, the CGI snakes or Samuel L. Jackson. The immortal quote in this film is a parody of the man and his roles throughout the years. Samuel L. Jackson is the definitive cultural hero of the MTV generation with his badass swagger, his cocksure disregard of the establishment and cutting quips as he walks onto a scene like he owns the damn movie. He’s exactly the sort of larger-than-life individual you’d want to associate this sort of film with if you were a movie studio executive.
This truly is exemplary pulp fiction gone wild and is not a film for anyone expecting a transcendent movie experience. The shocks and thrills are instinctually predictable and extemporaneous with no meaningful introspective about gripping terror or politics. Anyone who attempts to draw comparisons to terrorism would be really off the mark and disrespectful in spite of recent events.
Suspension of belief is obviously crucial to the enjoyment of “Snakes on a Plane”. It’s a phenomenon that lives in the moment as a product of our generation’s cultural zeitgeist that’s (still being) driven by hype due to its raging online fan ethos and a generally high regard for escapist fare. With the premise that launched a cross-media publicity campaign demonstrating the power of fandom, it has no doubt spawned a PR legacy laying the groundwork for more of such marketing strategies to come. When all is said and done, that is the true phenomenon.
There appeared to be an urge to build this movie around the mania and hysterics of fan-written ideas that seem like they were drawn from a hat to form its plot structure. Many of the scenes felt tacked on and tedious. The editing is just that haphazard, and skips from passenger to passenger indiscriminately as fangs maul them. It practically directs itself, no thanks to David R. Ellis. Possibly its original director, Ronnie Yu, might have brought something extra to this project aside from just piling on scenarios upon scenarios of hurt without stringing them together.
Caught with its pants down halfway between satire and action, itÂ’s not quite the thrill it should have been and itÂ’s also not an out-and-out laugh riot. In all respects, once the creative juices run dry, so does the initial frisson. When it first gets into its groove, waves after waves of no holds barred, cringe inducing and politically incorrect scenes set the film alight with exhilaration. After awhile though, it all just goes steadily downhill.........
Continued at
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