Snakes on a Plane

Horror

Samuel L. Jackson	Nelville Flynn
Byron Lawson	Eddie Kim
Nathan Phillips	Sean Jones
Flex Alexander	Three Gs
Adam Behr	Puppeteer
Rachel Blanchard	Mercedes
Bobby Cannavale	Hank Harris
Terry Chen	Chen Leong
Keith Dallas	Big Leroy
Agam Darshi	iPod Girl
Julianna Margulies	Claire Miller
Kenan Thompson	Troy
Lin Shaye	Grace
Bruce James	Ken
Sunny Mabrey	Tiffany
Elsa Pataky
David Koechner
Todd Louiso
Nathan Phillips (II)

Director	David R. Ellis
Producer	Craig Berenson; Don Granger; Gary Levinsohn; Stokely Chaffin
Writer	John Heffernan; Sebastian Gutierrez
Cinematography	Adam Greenberg
Musician	Trevor Rabin
User Credit 1	Howard E. Smith
User Credit 2	Karen L. Matthews

Agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) is assigned to accompany and protect murder witness Nathan Phillips (Sean Jones) on a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles. Someone wants Phillips dead, of course. Instead of just killing him, the mystery assassin has placed boxes full of deadly snakes that are programmed to open and release the snakes at a specific time during the flight in the cargo hold of the plane. These aren't just ordinary deadly poisonous snakes either; these snakes have been given a substance that makes them crazy! Snakes gone wild! This is not a serious action film. Twisted humor is what drives "Snakes on a Plane." A guy is ferociously bitten while taking a leak... on the one place he'd least like to be bitten. A small dog is swallowed by a giant boa constrictor. Dozens of deadly snakes are attacking passengers all within the confines of a commercial jet. Who's going to land this plane?

Snakes on a Plane knows exactly what kind of movie it is, knows exactly what moviegoers expect from a title like Snakes on a Plane, and delivers the exact pleasures of a movie in which poisonous snakes are unleashed on a plane to kill an eyewitness to murder. Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Long Kiss Goodnight) knows exactly what he's doing in this movie and knows exactly when to pull out the superbad Samuel L. Jackson stare and deliver the infuriated Samuel L. Jackson bellow. The rest of the cast--including Julianna Margulies (ER), Rachel Blanchard (the TV series Clueless), Kenan Thompson (Fat Albert), David Koechner (Anchorman), Bobby Canavale (The Station Agent), and Sunny Mabrey (One Last Thing...)--play their parts with admirably straight faces and deadpan humor. Director David R. Ellis (Final Destination 2, Cellular) gives the movie the much-needed headlong momentum you would expect from a former stunt coordinator. In summation: A perfect piece of self-aware but not self-conscious high camp entertainment, blending comedy and thrills in perfect proportion. --Bret Fetzer