Snakes on a Plane

Year: 2006
Running time: 105 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: John Heffernan, Sebastian Gutierrez
Director: David R. Ellis
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Nathan Phillips, Rachel Blanchard, Flex Alexander, Kenan Thompson, Keith Dallas, Lin Shaye, Bruce James, Sunny Mabrey

Not what you want to see when joining the Mile High Club.

Snakes on a Plane: the movie the Internet made. It doesn’t matter how good or bad this film actually is, it's still gone down as a cult film along with Tremors and Critters, although compared to those two, it's popularity has waned rather significantly over the years. At the time of release, this film was a cult smash before anybody even saw it. All it took was the news that Samuel L. Jackson was doing a film called Snakes on a Plane and the Internet went mad. Before New Line had got the marketing in place there were a load of fan-made posters doing the rounds, helping the film's reputation grow over the months before its release.

Originally conceived as a rather milder affair, after the massive amount of interest, the makers even went back and filmed extra scenes, adding more gore, more sex and more quotable dialogue for Jackson. In fact, you spend most of the film waiting for it, and when he finally shouts: “I’ve had it with these motherfuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin’ plane!” you really feel like cheering.

Hero pose #16.

Jackson is dependable throughout, buying into the concept wholeheartedly - in fact, were it not for his interest from the start, it probably wouldn't have got made. It's a little more polished than you might expect from a film called Snakes on a Plane, and it's clear New Line were willing to spend some extra money on it with a readymade audience built in and apparently gagging for it. While it didn't do as well as hoped (Jackson once referred to the possibility of making a sequel, which he called "More motherfuckin' snakes, on more motherfuckin' planes!" - alas, it was not to be), I find it encouraging that a studio was willing to both spend extra money and up the certificate when the interest is there. It was quite fun, and diverting for a while, but the novelty wears off before it can build up the momentum required to sustain a schlocky franchise.

The plot? Well, there are these snakes, right, and they’re on this plane…

Score: 5/10

It's surprisingly well-reviewed out there - have a look at this review from Dana at Slate or this 10-years-later retrospective from Sarah at Den of Geek.