Snakes On A Blog*
*Yes, I know I didn’t come up with it, but it’s so funny.
Currently drinking: Carlton Draught.
Currently listening to: New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle.
Just thought I’d do the drinking/listening thing as an homage to Crommo, who has now entered the blogosphere (here’s hoping he doesn’t burn up on entry!).
Anyway, I went along and saw Snakes On A Plane yesterday.
Naturally, I grabbed a bag of Allen’s snakes as my confection for the event. I would’ve preferred a King Python, but the Safeway next door to the cinema didn’t have those.
I really enjoyed SoaP. It was just a fun, unpretentious action flick in the tradition of the 80s and 90s summer blockbusters. Equal parts action, disaster, comedy, horror, thriller, star vehicle, creature feature all wrapped up into one awesome high-concept package. You look up postmodern in the dictionary, and there’s a picture of a snake wrapped around a fuckin’ 747.
One of my favourite aspects was the lampooning of current cultural arche-/stereotypes. The Paris Hilton type chick with the chihuahua (I thought it was Alicia Silverstone, but it was actually the chick who took over her role of Cher Horowitz for the Clueless TV series), the rapper with delusions of royalty (Three Gees/3Gs), and the ‘extreme’ kid hopped up on Red Bull, just to name a few of the more obvious ones.
Speaking of the chihuahua chick- I hated that pompous old dude until he threw the dog to the boa constrictor. If I ever wrote a book called “Fuck Yeah Moments In Cinema”, that’d be in it, along with the Knuckle Puck from D2: The Mighty Ducks, and the President’s speech in Independence Day.
And, oh God, the product placement! This movie is like the E.T. of the 2000s with regard to product placement. PSP, Nintendo DS, eBay, Red Bull, Playstation 2, XBOX… and whatever else I missed. If kids from this generation ever get nostalgic for the 2000s (and I don’t see why they would, cos the 2000s got nothin’ on the 90s and 80s) they’ll just have to track down a vintage DVD of Snakes On A Plane to get a sense of the zeitgeist of the decade.
Probably my least favourite thing in the movie (and this goes for pretty much all Hollywood cinema these days) was the overuse of CGI. Before the snakes were unleashed, when they were just slithering around in those mood-establishing sequences, they looked really, really fake. I’m talking 1930s King Kong fake. It wasn’t so noticeable in the ’fight’ sequences in the coach cabin, when they were latching onto tits and dicks and eyeballs and stuff, but it was really bad in those earlier scenes. I wish they’d just used real snakes or even animatronics for those bits, and left the CGI for the action scenes. It’s just another exhibit in the case of Craftsmen vs Computer Nerds in special effects, Judge Me presiding.
I should probably wrap this up. I’m not saying Snakes On A Plane is the new Citizen Kane or anything, but it is an entertaining, original (yet very much rooted in what has come before- postmodernism rules, bitch) film, which is more than I can say for most contemporary Hollywood cinema.
I’ve had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane! I’m still finishing off that popcorn.
I enjoyed it too. I have no idea what the public was expecting from this thing. It was intended to be a silly Samuel L. Jackson action movie, and that’s exactly what it was.
I saw it on the first day it opened, and after the movie ended I heard lots of bitchin’ on the walk to my car.
How was it received in Australia?
each to their own. You’ve probably since read my review, and thats where i stand, but i will concede that the dog-to-the-boa moment was top notch. I forgot to mention it in my blog tho. Also, thanks for the tribute, although when i first saw it before i read the following paragraph i was irked. Quite amusing. Anyway man, keep reading my blog, i’ll let you know who is in WALA. Catch
Ninjak: I have no idea how it was received down here. I don’t really pay a lot of attention to film critics. Most of the few people I’ve talked to seemed to enjoy it, and there was a bit of a buzz in my film class the week it came out. Other than that, I think it really passed under the radar.
It sort of proves that no matter how much of an Internet phenomenon something is, that doesn’t translate to popular appeal. I think they were relying too much on the Internet thing to bring in the crowds, and it really didn’t happen, cos the kind of people who were pumping it up on the ‘Net are probably waiting for the DVD so they don’t have to leave their parents’ basements.
Ha! Ha! I picked up a shirt at the con that came with pilot wings for this movie! Unfortunately it tanked here, But I think it will catch on when its on DVD.
You should write “Fuck Yeah: The great moments in 80’s and 90’s cinema” I’d like to add when Yoda lifts Luke’s X-Wing out of the swamp in The Empire Strikes Back and Elliot calls his brother “Penis Breath!” In E.T. LOL!