Snakes On A Plane review

In an early scene someone declares, 'They say the higher you aim, the farther you fall.' It's a line that could equally refer to the approach adopted by those behind Snakes On A Plane. From its ludicrous but brilliant title onwards, there is no doubt exactly where Snakes On A Plane is aiming. To give you a better idea of where that it is, to get there would require a submarine rather than an aeroplane.

Setting out to be good and failing is bad. Conversely, setting out to be bad and succeeding is good. That's certainly the case if SOAP is anything to go by. To criticize this deliberately hokey romp would be both churlish and missing the point. It revels in its absurdity and never resists an opportunity to go over the top. When Samuel Jackson's character cries out, 'I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane,' it was barely heard over the raucous cheers of an audience on opening night who were clearly in on the joke. For those who weren't, there was certainly enough evidence in the scenes leading up to the point when Jackson utters the line that is certain to be recited back at him ad nauseum.

With one insensitive snake biting on a poor man's protruding anatomy while he takes a leak, another taking up breast feeding and one being microwaved to oblivion, SOAP sought laughs any place it could find them and, judging by the enthusiastic response, it found them. Alongside the humour is plenty to send shivers down the spines of those who find the sight of hundreds of slithering snakes as appealing as dental surgery.

Samuel Jackson holds everything together with a performance that effectively parodies himself in one of his many badass roles. As FBI agent Nelville Flynn, he has been entrusted to escort Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) from Honolulu to Los Angeles where he is the key witness in the murder trial of mobster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson). The flight has plenty of colorful characters, all ripe for the tribulations ahead. These begin when 500 snakes escape from the cargo hold, but not before they are sprayed with a pheromone that turns the normally docile reptiles into ferocious killers.

SOAP was originally scheduled to be made back in 2001, but a not-so-small event on September 11th of that year rendered any disaster films involving planes (especially jokey ones) in poor taste. Now that time has passed and the public's sensitivity is more robust, poor taste is less of an issue. In fact, poor taste is something Snakes On A Plane celebrates.

Kevin Murphy