Cast: Samuel L. Jackson as Nelville Flynn Julianna Margulies as Claire Miller Nathan Phillips as Sean Jones Bobby Cannavale as Hank Harris Todd Louiso as Dr. Steven Price Rachel Blanchard as Mercedes Flex Alexander as Three G’s Kenan Thompson as Troy Keith Dallas as Big Leroy Byron Lawson as Eddie Kim Lin Shaye as Grace Bruce James as Ken Sunny Mabrey as Tiffany Casey Dubois as Curtis Daniel Hogarth as Tommy Gerard Plunkett as Paul Terry Chen as Chen Leong Elsa Patsky as Maria Directed by David R. Ellis Story: Review: It’s hard to believe that you can’t even get the camp enjoyment out of an absurd movie about a plane attacked by rampaging snakes, but there it is. It’s not scary or funny or absurd or ironic or exciting, or anything really. Ellis lets every scene play in the most perfunctory manner imaginable. For a movie of only 104 minutes, it takes quite a while for the snakes to actually attack the plane. There are a few good campy gags when they finally do beginning with a couple trying to join the mile high club in the bathroom but that all fades away quickly. The passengers, led by Flynn, barricade themselves away from the snakes and await one easily averted crisis after another and the time between them is filled in with uninteresting character development that everyone involved most realize is an exercise in futility. A movie called “Snakes on a Plane” only has one thing going for it the snakes on the plane. Everything else is a waste of time. Jackson actually manages the seemingly impossible task of never appearing ridiculous no matter what it is that he has to do. Unfortunately, he gets to do very little for most of the film, and even a descent into the bowels of the plane comes up short on interest. He does have one really, really good catch phrase but even that moment is blown by Ellis’ ridiculously straightforward and bland direction. A movie about snakes on a plane does not need to be straightforward; the material is just too thin. It only has a shot if it is either genuinely scary or so incredibly over the top it’s funny. “Snakes on a Plane” is neither, but maybe “Snakes on a Boat” will be better. Show Comments |


