Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Directors:

David R. Ellis
Lex Halaby

Writers (WGA):

John Heffernan (screenplay) and
Sebastian Gutierrez (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 August 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

On August 18th Summer Really Begins

Plot:

An FBI agent takes on a plane full of deadly and poisonous snakes, deliberately released to kill a witness being flown from Honolulu to Los Angeles to testify against a mob boss.

Plot Keywords:

Snake | Passenger | Murder | FBI Agent | Witness

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Neville Flynn
Julianna Margulies	...	Claire Miller
Nathan Phillips	...	Sean Jones
Rachel Blanchard	...	Mercedes
Flex Alexander	...	Three G's
Kenan Thompson	...	Troy
Keith Dallas	...	Big Leroy (as Keith [Blackman] Dallas)
Lin Shaye	...	Grace
Bruce James	...	Ken
Sunny Mabrey	...	Tiffany
Casey Dubois	...	Curtis
Daniel Hogarth	...	Tommy
Gerard Plunkett	...	Paul
Terry Chen	...	Chen Leong
Elsa Pataky	...	Maria

Also Known As:

Anaconda 3 (USA) (fake working title)
Flight 121 (USA) (working title)
Pacific Air 121 (USA) (working title)
Pacific Air Flight 121 (USA) (working title)
Serpents à bord (Canada: French title)
SoaP (USA) (promotional abbreviation)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, a scene of sexuality and drug use, and intense sequences of terror and violence.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Germany | USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:15 | Singapore:M18 | Ireland:15A | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Germany:16 | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R (certificate #42661) | Malaysia:18SG | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | Finland:K-15 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Sweden:15 | Canada:18A (Manitoba) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Netherlands:16 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Argentina:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:U (cut) | Italy:VM14 | Romania:I.C.-14 | Portugal:M/16 | Brazil:16 | New Zealand:M | South Korea:18 | Japan:PG-12

Filming Locations:

Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

This film's title originated at an after-work happy hour among Hollywood colleagues to see who could come up with the most awful pitch for a movie. Producer 'Craig Berenson (III)', who worked for DreamWorks at the time, gave his pitch for this movie based on a script called "Venom."

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The crew would not give an abbreviated briefing as shown, as it would violate Federal Aviation Regulations. Briefings must actually demonstrate the use of seat belts, must point out all of the exits and not just state there are "several emergency exits", must reference oxygen use for self and those that need assistance, and must ask that the passengers follow along on the briefing card. Also, they must state what type of aircraft the passengers are in. None of this was done in the briefing. It is stated by the crew that they are coming up on "Thirty-thousand feet". The shot of the altimeter immediately following shows an altimeter with the hundred-foot needle going through the 800 mark. The thousand-foot needle is on the 35,000 foot mark (a five thousand foot difference), and the thousand-foot needle does not move when the hundred foot needle moves.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Daniel Hayes: [to Sean] Go, get outta here. Go!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Snakes on a Video: Cobra Starship (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Backfire

The Internet spawned a monster...

I'm confident that "Snakes on a Plane" will prove once and for all that Internet culture and mainstream culture are not one and the same.

Because, my friends, the Internet will tell you that SOAP (as those in the know call it) is a classic film - the best "bad movie" ever made. But I think any more sensible member of the general public will tell you that SOAP is nothing more than a mildly competent action movie. It's not hysterically funny. It's not scary. It's occasionally exciting. And it sure ain't a "10" on the IMDb scale.

Don't misunderstand me; I had fun watching the movie. I was even willing to be generous, until I saw the outrageously high rating on this site and all the strangely gushing reviews. Frankly, I'm a bit astonished. Why heap such praise on this particular film? If you love camp, over-the-top action movies, then why not worship a camp action film that's actually good? ("Wrath of Khan" springs to mind - also "Batman.")

The truth is that parts of SOAP are pretty lame. Samuel L. Jackson is good, but his role is weirdly small. And, aside from his one power catchphrase, most of his dialog is banal and dull. The rest of the actors aren't even worth commenting on, since they're stuck with stock and boring "funny" characters.

Speaking of dull, how many different ways can snakes really kill someone? They hiss...they lunge...they bite...over and over and over again. It's not particularly cinematic. And most of them are fake CGI anyway, so they're not even remotely frightening.

Face it, the only reason to see this is because it's camp and bad. It's part of the whole culture of worshiping lame junk that's prevalent right now. It's hip to like terrible garage bands and lame movies because people are either too impatient, or too unsophisticated, to take the time to absorb entertainment that's actually artistic. So we watch and listen to junk, and imagine that we're superior to it, and that makes us feel good. Apparently.

Is there anything wrong with liking junk? Not really - I review and praise junk on this site all the time. But putting junk on a pedestal? That's very, very wrong.

Sermon over.