Sunday, August 27, 2006

Snakes On A Plane

This was actually a much better movie than most people expected. I notice a few people trying to be too cool about it, like it's some sort of clever marketing ploy or manipulation of pop culture, but that's not what happened at all. The studio never truly understood what happened, and they didn't actually do anything smart about it. What really went on is simple: some details got leaked, and the studio desperately tried to cash in on "the internet hype." I don't think they succeeded at all, because they have no idea how grassroots viral phenomena on the internet really work, so it's more accurate to call this a cult film that just happened to achieve cult status before it got released.

What the studio did do though, was go on and do a pretty good job making a film (which is, I suppose, what studios are supposed to know what to do). The pacing is very good, and the story structure is rather well done. The expository sequences are a little long, because they have to do just enough to show each character (so that we know what unique circumstances are at play when the snakes kill each of them), but in general the film is very consistent, and very funny. I'll admit that I went in expecting the film to be "a bad comedy with a lot of hype," but it turns out that it's actually a good comedy with a lot of hype. My wife and I are both disappointed that the film only got an initial opening weekend pop, because it's actually a pretty good comedy on its own merits and deserves praise beyond mere cult fandom.

I also enjoyed the product placement (there was some Red Bull and "praise to the Playstation"). I think I have a different opinion than most regarding movie product placement. I think it's weird when someone is drinking an unidentifiable brand of beverage in a scene. I want to see a brand, because that's what you'd see in real life.

In fact, the only real bad scene was the after-the-fact re-shot of Samuel L. Jackson delivering his "muthafuckin' snakes" line. It was shot in response to fan requests after primary shooting had wrapped up, and it really shows. The visual quality of the film actually changes, and they do an extreme close-up because they had apparently torn down the sets - the background is just a fuzzy orange resembling the color of plane's interior. Also, the audience cheers at that point, so you don't get to hear him deliver the line so well.

So if you avoided this film because you thought it was just a bunch of hype, you should go see it. It's actually a pretty good comedy, as good as say, Wedding Crashers, and definitely deserves more success than it's been getting.

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