"Snakes on a mutherfuckin Plane!"
It was a good day. I have been in a happy-ass mood all day. I dunno why...
But, when I rolled into work, I found out the other theater got 'Snakes on a Plane' before us and one manager went to see it. I was upset a little because I like being the one that sees cool movies before everyone else.
My spiteful feelings passed when I asked him how it was.
"It was really damn good."
"Wow," I said. "So... its Good-Good or Cheesey-Good?"
After he explained there is hardly any cheese and that it was a "Die Hardish, kick-ass" movie, I got excited about it. I at first thought it would be one of those movies that the filmmakers KNOW the plot concept is dumb, the Audience KNOWS the plot concept is dumb, nobody is kidding themselves, but everyone has some fun making/watching it. I was going to go see it eventually, but now I had to see it TONIGHT.
-and I did and it rocked-
Ok, so here it is...
-It amazed me very very very much that it was written pretty decently. ALMOST cheese-free... and where there is some, its intended and funny. Im impressed. Not just with the dialogue (well, the character dialogue in the first 10 minutes, is kind of obviously cliche), but the story also, was scripted well. No, its not going to win an oscar, but I was preparing to get a story cooked up by some uncreative pottheads. I got something much better:
-It flowed well from start to finish with no real slowdowns; thats the usual thing that kills movies like this.
-It was somewhat (and, yes, im stretching this) plausable/believeable. OK, well, it had its moments... but at least I didnt find myself annoyed, blurting out "OMG that would never happen!"
-This is a quotable movie. Period. There are so many hilarious catch-phrases and one-liners, I know I'll be stocked up for weeks. Hell, I've been muttering "Snakes on a mutherfuckin plane!" to myself in amusement all day. (saying any others would spoil it.)
-It is actually funny at the funny moments... and there are a lot of them. The utter chaos & carnage is funny too (mostly because of clever ideas about introducing the snakes to their targets, but well get to that later...no spoilers), but so very violent that sometimes you have to look away and yell "Aaaaawwww nooo!"
-You can be VERY thankful that they added the stuff they reshot and added to upgrade it to an "R" rating. It pays off, I think. Its a brutal movie and a whole lot of people die... horribly. ie; when the snakes (usually more than one) strike people, they dont cut away or go offscreen while you only imagine whats going on... you see it all, AND, they dont just bite in the arms or legs... Heh heh heeeeh! >:)
-It is actually kick-ass at the kick-ass moments. When Jackson's (or any other) character whups ass on a snake or 2, you are left yelling "Yeah! That was awesome!" rather than "OMG, that was lame!".
-It made me jump. I'll admit that it got me good, too. I learned quickly that second-guessing the film would be tough. I think this would be the best reason for why I said above that it was well-written. I tried to brace myself for every time a snake popped out of nowhere. I wasnt always right...
-You are always bracing yourself for something. If its not for a snake-outta-nowhere, you are cringing before the obvious action-movie-one-liner points or a character-making-fatally-dumb-mistake moment. The cool thing is, is that it dosent go down that way at all. Cliche-free elation is the best tension relief ever.
-I can totally envision the guys that made this. They love what they do... and they want to be creative. The problem is that they have a film plot that screams 'predictable'. So, they go out to Bennigan's one night and have some brew. They take out a notepad and write on it everything they can think of incorperating into the storyline that can:
...fuck with peoples' fear of flying.
...fuck with peoples' fear of snakes. (Its not called "Snake on a Plane" for a very good reason.)
...fuck with people who are easially startled and/or scream loud
...fuck with people who get squeemish seeing blood or gore.
They then mash it all together, take out the obvious garbage, and make a film. Its very obvious seeing a movie that people enjoyed making. Hell, I would have a blast doing a flick like this, and totally understand why Jackson took the job.
This movie was way more than the "B" movie tribute I thought it was going to be.... It was like: 'Jurassic Park' plotline meets 'Die Hard' style. It COULD possibly be my favorite sleeper movie of the summer. Seriously. Eh, well if not, then I know I'll at least buy the DVD.
-Mike