Snakes on a Plane
Gratuitous. That’s the word I would use to describe Snakes on a Plane. Everything about this film is gratuitous; and yet, it works. Snakes on a Plane knows exactly what kind of film it is, and never tries to be anything different. It’s a standard, B-grade action/horror/disaster flick that follows the conventions and clichés of those genres to the letter and thereby ends up being a guilty pleasure. Snakes on a Plane is a fun film, but you’ll probably feel kind of dumb for thinking so.
A lot has been made of Snakes on a Plane and its internet marketing. It was an unusual way to push a film - to let the internet buzz be the driving force behind the marketing – and it doesn’t look like it’s going to pay off. After taking in a slightly tweaked fifteen million plus for the weekend, SoaP wasn’t nearly the success the hype would have led us to believe it would be. Much like the far superior Serenity, it seems that movies can’t be a success based on an internet fan base alone. But then again, it’s not like SoaP was trying to be a good movie. This isn’t a serious piece of film like WTC, or a summer blockbuster epic like Pirates of the Caribbean, SoaP is a throwback to those classic films that were so bad they were good.
Now I’m not saying that this was a bad film, perse, but then it also isn’t trying to be a really good film. SoaP takes the standards and conventions of the genres it emulates and follows them exactly. In fact, it adheres to these standards so closely that you can pretty much guess who will survive and who will be snake food as the characters board the plane; and therein lays the fun. You already know what’s going to happen – the title of the movie reveals it all – and you already have a pretty good idea of who it’s going to happen to. Now that may sound like you know too much, but it’s that fore knowledge that turns this film into a good time. As events unfold exactly as you know you would, there’s a certain giddy pleasure and comfort in the familiarity of it all. Every character in this film is a cliché, and the film does a good job of setting them all up and clearly defining them from the beginning. With just a few lines of dialogue, you know that this guy is the snobby, know-it-all jerk who’s going to be snake food, this single-mom lady will inevitably yell out, “My baby! Where’s my baby!�, and this amorous couple will find some place private for some fun that won’t end well. Yep, all the stock characters are here, and their fates unfold just as they should. You know, the sad thing is we can often make these same kind of snap judgments in real life as well. So often, we just glance at a person and already we have them pegged in a certain category in our mind. However, life isn’t a movie, and people aren’t caricatures of certain stereotypes. We need to learn to get past our preconceptions and take the time to really connect with people. Jesus did this better than anyone else. He saw past the stereotypes and looked into a person’s heart to see who they really were; to love them as they really were. It’s such an amazing realization to know that no matter how people might classify me, no matter what cliché I fit for others, Jesus will always love me just as I am; just as He has loved everyone for who they are, not who they appear to be. It’s nice to be more than just a cardboard cutout of a character, which is basically what everyone in SoaP is.
However, don’t get the impression that SoaP is some sort of spoof or camp movie. This is a serious action film…at least as serious as you can be about snakes on a plane. The movies doesn’t mock itself, nor does it have the sly insiders wink wink, nudge nudge kind of attitude. Although it may adhere to the all of conventions and clichés of disaster/horror films, it does so with serious intent. It’s not mocking those conventions; it’s using them to tell this particular story. It’s obvious that Samuel L. Jackson and the rest of the cast had fun making this kind of movie, but at the same time you can also see that they were very serious about it. Everyone commits fully to their role, and because they take it so seriously it helps the audience set aside all the things that don’t make sense and enjoy the ride. Sure the movie is funny in parts, but that’s because it wants to be funny, not because it’s so bad it’s funny.
As I left the theatre, I wondered why I went to see Snakes on a Plane. It’s not like it looked like it was going to be a great movie, and I wasn’t really expecting it to be all that good, so why did I bother to go? Why would anyone bother to go? It doesn’t have a lot of substance, there aren’t many surprises, it doesn’t always make sense, and it’s pretty much over the top in every way possible. But then I realized that I was grinning as I left theatre. I had a big, stupid grin on my face after watching a stupid movie about badly computer animated snakes terrorizing a bunch of stereotypical cliché characters around a 747 flying from Hawaii to L.A. That’s when I realized why I went; I thought it would be fun, and it was. Sometimes, movies are just fun. Snakes on a Plane is such a movie, and it doesn’t try to be anything else. It just wants the audience to have a good time. I can’t say I’d recommend going to see such a gratuitous film, but if you do happen to see it, odds are you’re going to have fun; and you’ll probably feel guilty for doing so. But then, that’s what a guilty pleasure is.
A lot has been made of Snakes on a Plane and its internet marketing. It was an unusual way to push a film - to let the internet buzz be the driving force behind the marketing – and it doesn’t look like it’s going to pay off. After taking in a slightly tweaked fifteen million plus for the weekend, SoaP wasn’t nearly the success the hype would have led us to believe it would be. Much like the far superior Serenity, it seems that movies can’t be a success based on an internet fan base alone. But then again, it’s not like SoaP was trying to be a good movie. This isn’t a serious piece of film like WTC, or a summer blockbuster epic like Pirates of the Caribbean, SoaP is a throwback to those classic films that were so bad they were good.
Now I’m not saying that this was a bad film, perse, but then it also isn’t trying to be a really good film. SoaP takes the standards and conventions of the genres it emulates and follows them exactly. In fact, it adheres to these standards so closely that you can pretty much guess who will survive and who will be snake food as the characters board the plane; and therein lays the fun. You already know what’s going to happen – the title of the movie reveals it all – and you already have a pretty good idea of who it’s going to happen to. Now that may sound like you know too much, but it’s that fore knowledge that turns this film into a good time. As events unfold exactly as you know you would, there’s a certain giddy pleasure and comfort in the familiarity of it all. Every character in this film is a cliché, and the film does a good job of setting them all up and clearly defining them from the beginning. With just a few lines of dialogue, you know that this guy is the snobby, know-it-all jerk who’s going to be snake food, this single-mom lady will inevitably yell out, “My baby! Where’s my baby!�, and this amorous couple will find some place private for some fun that won’t end well. Yep, all the stock characters are here, and their fates unfold just as they should. You know, the sad thing is we can often make these same kind of snap judgments in real life as well. So often, we just glance at a person and already we have them pegged in a certain category in our mind. However, life isn’t a movie, and people aren’t caricatures of certain stereotypes. We need to learn to get past our preconceptions and take the time to really connect with people. Jesus did this better than anyone else. He saw past the stereotypes and looked into a person’s heart to see who they really were; to love them as they really were. It’s such an amazing realization to know that no matter how people might classify me, no matter what cliché I fit for others, Jesus will always love me just as I am; just as He has loved everyone for who they are, not who they appear to be. It’s nice to be more than just a cardboard cutout of a character, which is basically what everyone in SoaP is.
However, don’t get the impression that SoaP is some sort of spoof or camp movie. This is a serious action film…at least as serious as you can be about snakes on a plane. The movies doesn’t mock itself, nor does it have the sly insiders wink wink, nudge nudge kind of attitude. Although it may adhere to the all of conventions and clichés of disaster/horror films, it does so with serious intent. It’s not mocking those conventions; it’s using them to tell this particular story. It’s obvious that Samuel L. Jackson and the rest of the cast had fun making this kind of movie, but at the same time you can also see that they were very serious about it. Everyone commits fully to their role, and because they take it so seriously it helps the audience set aside all the things that don’t make sense and enjoy the ride. Sure the movie is funny in parts, but that’s because it wants to be funny, not because it’s so bad it’s funny.
As I left the theatre, I wondered why I went to see Snakes on a Plane. It’s not like it looked like it was going to be a great movie, and I wasn’t really expecting it to be all that good, so why did I bother to go? Why would anyone bother to go? It doesn’t have a lot of substance, there aren’t many surprises, it doesn’t always make sense, and it’s pretty much over the top in every way possible. But then I realized that I was grinning as I left theatre. I had a big, stupid grin on my face after watching a stupid movie about badly computer animated snakes terrorizing a bunch of stereotypical cliché characters around a 747 flying from Hawaii to L.A. That’s when I realized why I went; I thought it would be fun, and it was. Sometimes, movies are just fun. Snakes on a Plane is such a movie, and it doesn’t try to be anything else. It just wants the audience to have a good time. I can’t say I’d recommend going to see such a gratuitous film, but if you do happen to see it, odds are you’re going to have fun; and you’ll probably feel guilty for doing so. But then, that’s what a guilty pleasure is.
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