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Critical Consensus: Now Boarding, "Snakes on a Plane." Destination: Fresh!
by Tim Ryan | August 18, 2006
Discuss Article
"Snakes on a Plane," the movie with the greatest title since "Dude, Where's My Car?", has captured the imagination of the blogosphere. But now that it's finally hitting theaters, does "SoaP" live up to the buzz?

Fangirls and boys of the world, the moment of truth is here. The reviews for "Snakes on a Plane" are in, and it appears to be exactly what you wanted, no more, no less. It does indeed feature snakes on a plane, it includes Samuel L. Jackson's colorful way with obscenity, and it is undoubtedly a B-movie through and through, kinda like "The Towering Inferno." Or perhaps "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," since it's been duly noted that the film works best in front of an enthusiastic audience. The critics agree that the film is utterly ludicrous (what did you expect?), and the positive reviews emphasize that "SoaP" is an unapologetically campy, fun ride. However, some critics say that in setting out to make a so-bad-it's-good movie, the filmmakers negate the reason for the whole enterprise, since true cult status must be earned, not created. Still, at 64 percent on the Tomatometer, "SoaP" is getting a pretty clean bill of health.


"But I'm tyring, Ringo. I'm trying... real... hard... to get these @#&$*$ snakes off this @#&$*$ plane."

It's by far the best reviewed not-screened-for-critics film of the year (the runner-up, "Silent Hill," is at 28 percent on the Tomatometer), and it's also leaving "Snakes on a Train" in the dust.

Related Items
Movie: Snakes on a Plane
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Silent Hill
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Celeb: Samuel L. Jackson
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Comments (1-13 of 13 posts) | Reply
wilkiedriver
wilkiedriver writes:
on Aug 18 2006 03:38 PM

[b]It's 5:39 pm Central and....[/b]
I don't think it will hold after today. Too bad.


(Reply to this)
IanSomerhalder
IanSomerhalder writes:
on Aug 18 2006 04:36 PM

[b]Hey RT ![/b]
Fix some allegedly rotten reviews... Read carefully the ones in the cream of the crop section and you will realize some of them have been posted as rotten while the review is QUITE FRESH !! don't mess with SOAP's tomatometer !!!


(Reply to this)
Eternity
Eternity writes:
on Aug 18 2006 04:37 PM

It's going to have a huge Saturday dropoff, that is true. But word of mouth is really good right now, at first the general public were like "This is so stupid!", but after today, I've pretty much got my entire High School pumped for this movie, a lot of them are seeing it this weekend. :)

(Reply to this)
Pokchu
Pokchu writes:
on Aug 18 2006 04:38 PM

[b]I think it'll hold[/b]
Since on the unofficial tomatometer, it takes four extra positive reviews to notch it up 1 percent it would take about what, 20 rotten reviews and no more fresh reviews to push it into rotten territory?

It's gonna stay fresh.


(Reply to this)
synergyred
synergyred writes:
on Aug 18 2006 10:02 PM

I just saw soap.

It was tons of fun, but I think it only really works if you have a great audience. Mine hissed at the screen and cheered with Samuel L Jackson's name came on screen (then when he first came on screen, and then when he did anything badass....).


(Reply to this)
ArmyofJuan
ArmyofJuan writes:
on Aug 19 2006 12:57 AM

the only reason why it's fresh im sure, is because of all th publicity its gotten and samuel l. jackson. if this movie cme out of nowhere im sure it would be at like 5% by now

(Reply to this)
frogleg
frogleg writes:
on Aug 19 2006 08:48 AM

I saw it with a group that enjoyed it last night. It was a 10:30 showing, which is a little late, but still usually fairly crowded on a Friday night. The theatre was showing it on their biggest V.I.P. screen, but unfortunately, counting my group, there probably weren't more than 2 dozen people there.

It was definitely a gas, though. We laughed a lot.


(Reply to this)
Boss Fan
Boss Fan writes:
on Aug 19 2006 09:48 AM

In reply to this comment (#842678)
That doesn't make much sense. Overhyped movies are generally the ones to disapoint audiences and critics alike. The hype makes the movie that much eassier to fail if it doesn't live up to the hype. Not to mention - since when has a critic given a movie like this a good review just cuz of hype? If anything, that's all the more reason they are waiting to knock it off its cloud. Look at all the big summer blockbusters that get bad reviews ("Pirates"). You guys are just gonna have to accept the fact that this is a good film... in terms of the type of film it set out to be, of course.

(Reply to this)
IMAmoose24
IMAmoose24 writes:
on Aug 19 2006 10:53 AM

Glad to see people didnt take it too serious. This was a fun, campy movie that shouldnt have been taken seriously. I mean the name says it all. I also agree that the audience plays a part to enjoying the movie. Dukes of Hazard was a bad movie, but i enjoyed it because alot of the the audience members yelled HEE HAW! when they knew it was coming. It was the only good part of seeing the movie. Last night, when I saw Pulse (Don't ask why) It was by far one of the worst movies i have ever seen. I enjoyed it though because the audience was laughing at the same stuff as i was. Too bad they actually meant for that movie to be serious and maybe scary.

(Reply to this)
DjMovieGoer
DjMovieGoer writes:
on Aug 20 2006 03:48 AM

I watched it and for me throughout the whole movie i was just waiting for Sam JAckson to say that line...."Im tired of these Mother***kin snakes on this Mother***kin plane and the audience went crazy after that, including me.

(Reply to this)
ArmyofJuan
ArmyofJuan writes:
on Aug 21 2006 01:17 PM

In reply to this comment (#842680)
No, but think about it this way.

The only reason why people arnt taking this movie seriously is because the whole marketing campaign has been to promote it as such. A "dumb" movie about snakes that cause mayhem in a plane. So the critics KNOW it's not supposed to be some sort of serious flick or anything. They know that this si going to bo a silly/goofy movie.

Now if we take that same exact film, take away the marketing campaign and hype and released it on the same exact day, everyone would be "wtf is this?" "what a horrible film" "the end of samuel l jacksons career" etc etc.

And as for the whole marketing campaign, this was intended to be a serious movie at first. Because i remember the first teaser/trailer and it didn't hint at any sort of comedic thing. It wasn't until the x-men 3 trailer that they decided to market it as something to be light hearted, weird summer flick.


(Reply to this)
Boss Fan
Boss Fan writes:
on Aug 21 2006 07:30 PM

In reply to this comment (#842683)
First, if "The Man" wasn't going to be the end of Sam Jackson's career (talk about a movie you know was gonna suck based on the marketing) this one definitly won't kill it. I understand what you are saying about the way they are marketing this as a big in-joke making this movie critic proof, but the problem with dumping on those behind the marketing with that is two-fold: first, it is rather ingenious that they just lay their cards on the table instead of trying to sell the movie as something it isn't (if this were promoted as an actual horror movie rather than the cheese fest it is you would piss off a lot of unsuspecting horror fans). At leat they are putting truth in their advertising. And second, you also are assuming this is indeed a bad film that they are trying to cover up by spoofing themselves. It is a good film... for what it is. A lot of fun, nothing more. It's not as though the ads are lying to us or suckering anyone into something that is really a POS. Its a fun, yet admittedly stupid action movie. That is what the ads promise. Maybe the pre-hype is unwarranted, but that is not the film's fault. As for the trailers you saw, I understood a trailer did not premier until "Poseidon" opened. That was just a teaser, and while it wasn't all camped-out, I don't recall anyone taking the title card seriously (plenty of laughs came up in the theatre).

(Reply to this)
BFBF
BFBF writes:
on Aug 21 2006 09:34 PM

[b]alll i have to say is..[/b]
"GET THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES OFF THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE"


(Reply to this)
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