Unlike many action movies, it’s not even putting out the pretense of being a serious drama. It’s not exploring the human condition, trying to put a face on a serious issue, or anything like that. It’s a bunch of snakes on a plane, causing havoc. It’s a movie concept, boiled down to the most primal essence, and displayed for you as the title.
I’m going to go see the movie, and I feel as though I can guarantee it will deliver what is expected. Snakes, a plane, and Samuel Jackson opening up a can of whoop ass. It doesn’t need to be anything more than that.
You made me spit out my coffee. Will you marry me?
Sam Jackson himself said it best: “Snakes on a Plane, man. Either you want to see that, or you don’t.”
Well, I want to see it. Of course, it’s coming out the week before I actually have to take an eight-hour plane ride, so I might wait until I get back frm vacation.
It’s like a conversation I had with my son a while ago. I said that there are certain movie themes/elements that I am a sucker for - time travel, sports, submarines, prisons, serial killers and snipers. So he said, “I guess you are really waiting for is a movie about the football team formed by the prisoners sentenced to serve on a time travelling prison sub who are being killed one by one by a serial killer sniper?”
So I guess there is some guy in Hollywood whose list is planes, snakes, FBI agents and assassins. Only difference is he can green light a movie.
It’s called “high concept:” a movie that can be described fully in one sentence. In this case that sentence is also the film’s title. More action movies should do this.
It’s a Jungian archetype that pre-supposes our atavistic primal tendencies to self-trigger our basic desire for Gilgameshian overtones and watch Samuel Jackson kick ass.
The hype is because there’s no confusion. Absolutely none. It’s perfectly crafted. It’s the nirvana of movie titles. It’s the far shore. The subtle. The very difficult to see. The unaging, the stable, the undisintegrating, the unmanifest, the unproliferated, the peaceful, the deathless , the sublime, the auspicious, the secure, the destruction of craving, the wonderful, the amazing, the unailing, the unailing state, the unafflicted, the dispassion, the purity, the freedom, the unadhesive, the island, the shelter, the asylum, the refuge…