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Snakes on a Plane
R3 - Hong Kong - Panorama Distributions Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (19th June 2007). |
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The Film
 At the 2006 MTV Movie Awards Samuel L. Jackson proclaimed that his then upcoming film "Snakes on a Plane" would win the "Best Film" category at the following year's award show. By that point the 'buzz' for "Snakes on a Plane" was at an all time high, the Internet fan boys stirred quite a sensation for the film that it began to take on many forms from fan videos to fan made posters. It was partly the crazy title and the ridiculous plot that attracted a mass frenzy online for anything snakes and plane related (even Asylum Home Entertainment decided to cash in on the craze by releasing the cheapie "Snakes on a Train" (2006) straight to video before the film opened theatrically). But it was also the fact that studio New Line Cinema listened to the fans and incorporated suggestions from fans into the final film, this led the studio to schedule an additional 5 shooting days to re-shoot some scenes to make it more violent and attract an "R" rating, that plus the addition of a fan favorite line of dialogue: "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" which caused a huge amount of hollering and cheering at any of the given screenings during the film's theatrical run. Cut to 2007, at the recent MTV Movie Awards "Snakes on a Plane" didn't win "Best Film" in fact it wasn't even nominated in any category...I guess Sam's prediction fell a little short. The theatrical response to the film was an underwhelming at best, while the film still managed to squeeze a profit it wasn't the windfall the studio or industry insider were expecting. So what happened? The fans were behind the film online, the studio used that 'buzz' to retool the film into what fans wanted to see, it should have paid off...should have?...nothing is a sure fire bet in Hollywood and I think the majority of people forgot amid the 'buzz' and media this film was receiving that the film is basically a silly b-grade actioner with a big budget, has ridiculous set-ups, bad acting that makes porn look like a Federico Fellini film and plot holes big enough to fit a truck through it. A bad film is a bad film no matter how much money you throw at it, even if the filmmakers purposely made a cheesy b-grade style film (or at least that's what they say...personally I don't have much faith in director David R. Ellis no matter what he's trying to achieve.) At least New Line learned a valuable lesion with "Snakes on a Plane" and that's fan boys are not the be all and end all of a film's box office gross, the object is to make a good film. While on a motocross track in Hawaii, Sean (Nathan Phillips) witnesses a murder committed by reputed mobster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson). Sean makes the mistake of getting seen and Kim is out to get him before he can tell anyone. Enter FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson), who is sent to protect Sean and to safely escort him to Los Angeles to testify against Kim in court. While on a flight to L.A. Kim's associates sneak onboard a cargo of deadly snakes fueled by a hormonal toxin that makes them more agitated that normal and sets them out onto the passengers in an effort to bring the plane down and hopefully kill Sean before he can testify. As mentioned before this film is basically a big-budget b-grade movie, the title and premise alone should indicate the type of film this is, it's a wonder why New Line took a gamble on such a film even though it stars an A-list actor such as Jackson, I suppose the excitement Jackson held for the project was enough to give it the green light. Over the course of filming director Ellis and the film's star tightened the script and gave it a predominantly cheesy feel. This is evidenced by the seat-of-their-pants screenwriting that progresses the viewer through each scene until the real stars of the show are unleashed (being the snakes if you didn't catch on). There are so many holes that leave one pondering how they managed to get away with that with studio executives, such as where did agent Flynn come from? How does he know Sean and why does he immediately accept Flynn as his savior? Why on earth would anyone use snakes to takes down a plane and most importantly how on God's green earth did they manage to get snakes onto a plane with security as tight as it is being a post September 11 world? (Ok maybe this one's too obvious...after all this wouldn't have a narrative if the snakes couldn't get on the plane), the idea of the hormonal toxin is stupid, the fact that every character is as clichéd as the last is plain lazy and let's not get started on the dialogue. There are so many unintentionally funny moments throughout this film it hurts to even try and remember them all, my personal favorite is when old hag flight attendant Grace (Lin Shaye) is about to die from a snake bite she utters her final words: "They offered me early retirement but this broad had to have one more tour of duty"...priceless in it's utter cheesiness. The acting is another point of contention, it's as if these 'actors' took some time off during the film and didn't even bother, even Jackson who made it an effort to be on this film from the start seems lost among the shitty dialogue and stupidly ridiculous set-ups (I may have been dreaming but I'm sure I saw him roll his eyes in one scene). I've porn stars act more convincingly than this cast of seemingly professional actors, and also what the f*** is David Koechner doing in this film? Having been in some of the funniest films recently ("Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" (2006), "Thank You for Smoking" (2005), "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (2005) and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" (2004) among others) and delivering hilarious performances he's now relegated to making awful sexually demeaning comments to Julianna Margulies. That was a total waste of a brilliant comic actor and the director needs a punch to the mouth for doing that. Now, I realize that for the better part of this review I've done nothing but badmouth this film, while there's no secret that it's a totally stupid film it's still fun to watch in its absurdity. You do find yourself rooting for Jackson's character and cheer when he says that now famous line (even though it does feel out of place), I got a kick out of the deaths (a girl gets bitten on the breast and a guy gets bitten on his dick! Now that's schlock b-grade stuff), the gore-level is appropriately "R" rated and there's some hefty amounts of it throughout the film's runtime. It's the type of film you really to check your brain at the door, just sit back and say "what the f***" after all it could be worse, it could have been directed by Uwe Boll. "Snakes on a Plane" is easily one of the worst films of 2006, the lame plot, loose acting and overall cheesy tone of the film are huge drawbacks...but it's fun to watch this train wreck...whoops sorry plane wreck unfold. It's worth renting getting drunk with a bunch of friends and watching, otherwise pass.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this anamorphic widescreen transfer is excellent. The image is sharp and clean, with no evidence of any print flaws. Colors are well balanced and vivid, especially in scenes where the plane lights turn off and all we're left with are the red and yellow back-up lights, in those cases I spotted no evidence of color bleeding. Blacks are deep and bold and the transfer did not exhibit any major compression issues such as artefacts. Overall this is a terrific transfer and presents the film brilliantly.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included both of which are in English, the first is a full bit-rate DTS ES 6.1 discrete surround track and the second is a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX encoded surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-ES track and found it to be excellent. With dialogue being clean and distortion free, the range of the track was equally impressive adding a level of ambient noise that is subtle and allows the viewer to be immersed in the experience, it's convincing enough to place you on the plane and then ranges to the aggressive action effects sounds and score that make effective use of the surround channels. As far as DTS-ES track go this is a terrific example of what to do with action films. Optional subtitles are included in Traditional Chinese only.
Extras
Panorama Distributions has released this film with a single extra, the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 12 seconds.
Overall
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