Yup, I saw this today. Go ahead - groan, roll the eyes, anything! I was with my friends - five people among an audience of ten, maaaybe fifteen people in the theater. Everyone else went to see World Trade Center. I'm glad I saw this. No, it isn't a great movie. Neither is it a bad movie. It's silly and entertaining, which is more than one should expect from a stupid premise. Nathan Phillips plays Sean Jones, a surfer and motorcyclist who in Hawaii witnesses a murder by the notorious L.A. gangster Eddie Kim. He is spotted fleeing the scene of the crime by Kim, and his henchmen. Samuel Jackson plays Neville Flynn, a FBI agent who saves Sean from being killed. Sean is pursuaded into becoming a witness for the prosecution, and Neville escorts him to Los Angeles. Kim arranges to have a crate full of snakes of various types (all poisonous) put on the plane. The flower leis which are stored with the snakes are doused with pheremones to aggravate the snakes into a fury. The smell is supposed to circulate through the plane; the idea being that the snakes will cause enough havoc that the plane will crash. Ooooookay, whatever! On the plane, we have: an assortment of stewardresses, ranging from young and cute to old and wise; a rapper and his entourage; a rich bitch; honeymooners; two young brothers on their first solo flight (from Hawaii to L.A.??? Please!!!!); a kickboxer; a latina mother; and a couple of young horny college age kids. There are others, but why waste time detailing, since a lot of people die in this film. Halfway through the flight, the crate is opened through a timed release, and the carnage ensues. Let me say that I found the movie entertaining beacuse of some smart, funny dialogue, and obvious set ups of characters, and the brisk, no nonsense pace that keeps the movie going, because in no way should we pay too much attention to plot or character development. The killing is gratuitous and awful. We were all groaning at how stupid it all was! Death by high heel shoe in the ear, falling onto an axe (on a plane???), by food cart, in the bathroom, while having sex in the bathroom, and more. If there was a napkin flying in the air I'm sure it would have cut someone's head off. Yes, both pilots die, and yes, in the classic Airport tradition, some one has got to land the plane. A lot of elements are borrowed from those 70's disaster films -- the passengers deal with one mishap to another, fighting to stay alive, and the action keeps you hanging in there with them. There are genuine moments of suspense (okay, maybe 30 seconds), and you have the Samuel Jackson quote, coming 3/4 into the film. Contrived? Yes, but it's better than a lot of other big budget summer blockbusters that have come out already. A good time wasting movie, and one that will make a killing on dvd, as this will make a great party film.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Snakes...........I Hate Snakes!
Yup, I saw this today. Go ahead - groan, roll the eyes, anything! I was with my friends - five people among an audience of ten, maaaybe fifteen people in the theater. Everyone else went to see World Trade Center. I'm glad I saw this. No, it isn't a great movie. Neither is it a bad movie. It's silly and entertaining, which is more than one should expect from a stupid premise. Nathan Phillips plays Sean Jones, a surfer and motorcyclist who in Hawaii witnesses a murder by the notorious L.A. gangster Eddie Kim. He is spotted fleeing the scene of the crime by Kim, and his henchmen. Samuel Jackson plays Neville Flynn, a FBI agent who saves Sean from being killed. Sean is pursuaded into becoming a witness for the prosecution, and Neville escorts him to Los Angeles. Kim arranges to have a crate full of snakes of various types (all poisonous) put on the plane. The flower leis which are stored with the snakes are doused with pheremones to aggravate the snakes into a fury. The smell is supposed to circulate through the plane; the idea being that the snakes will cause enough havoc that the plane will crash. Ooooookay, whatever! On the plane, we have: an assortment of stewardresses, ranging from young and cute to old and wise; a rapper and his entourage; a rich bitch; honeymooners; two young brothers on their first solo flight (from Hawaii to L.A.??? Please!!!!); a kickboxer; a latina mother; and a couple of young horny college age kids. There are others, but why waste time detailing, since a lot of people die in this film. Halfway through the flight, the crate is opened through a timed release, and the carnage ensues. Let me say that I found the movie entertaining beacuse of some smart, funny dialogue, and obvious set ups of characters, and the brisk, no nonsense pace that keeps the movie going, because in no way should we pay too much attention to plot or character development. The killing is gratuitous and awful. We were all groaning at how stupid it all was! Death by high heel shoe in the ear, falling onto an axe (on a plane???), by food cart, in the bathroom, while having sex in the bathroom, and more. If there was a napkin flying in the air I'm sure it would have cut someone's head off. Yes, both pilots die, and yes, in the classic Airport tradition, some one has got to land the plane. A lot of elements are borrowed from those 70's disaster films -- the passengers deal with one mishap to another, fighting to stay alive, and the action keeps you hanging in there with them. There are genuine moments of suspense (okay, maybe 30 seconds), and you have the Samuel Jackson quote, coming 3/4 into the film. Contrived? Yes, but it's better than a lot of other big budget summer blockbusters that have come out already. A good time wasting movie, and one that will make a killing on dvd, as this will make a great party film.
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