Snakes, Why'd It Have To Be Snakes?
Last week I headed out (somewhat tongue in cheek) to see recently released and much hyped, Snakes on a Plane. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I was pretty sure that it would be bad. The entire premise of the movie - summed up in its truly outstanding title - was silly enough that I couldn't imagine any great cinematic experiences coming of it. I'd heard that a lot of bloggers had been talking about it, and most of the advertising was of the free variety as people became interested in the strange sounding movie and started talking about it more.
When we got to the movie, you could already feel something different in the atmosphere. Small groups of people walked hurriedly toward the theater, most of them young adults, most making muttered jokes about snakes and snickering. We fit the type to a T.
We settled into our seats, watched the incredibly dumb previews (at which point I began to worry even more about the quality of the movie, if the previews we saw were supposed to hit the demographic of Snakes on a Plane), and the house lights dimmed. As the title screen came up, so did an enthusiastic cheer from the audience, and we were off.
105 minutes later, I enthusiastically declared Snakes on a Plane to be one of the best cinematic experiences I had had in years. The premise was ludicrous, the foreshadowing overly heavy handed, and everyone already knew the ending of the movie. It was campy, and everyone was completely ok with that.
The audience took every opportunity to interact liberally with the movie. When one of the stewardesses asked (in reference to a famous rap singer), "Do you KNOW who is on this flight?!" the entire audience told her: "SNAKES!"
We elbowed each other and giggled at particularly overshadowing lines.
When Samuel L. Jackson delivered the line made famous by previews and bloggers everywhere ("That's it! I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!"), nobody in the audience actually heard the line because everyone was too busy cheering.
I half expected large rubber snakes to go flying through the air at any moment.
We laughed. We gasped as snakes jumped out, even though we always knew they were coming. Then, we laughed some more. At the end of the movie, everyone clapped and cheered. People exited the theater while talking excitedly about the movie, quoting lines, calling people to tell them about what they'd missed.
It occurred to me that every time I took my eyes off the screen, I looked around to see a completely enthralled audience loving every second of the film. Folks, I don't care WHAT the plot is, if that isn't good cinema, I don't know what is.
When we got to the movie, you could already feel something different in the atmosphere. Small groups of people walked hurriedly toward the theater, most of them young adults, most making muttered jokes about snakes and snickering. We fit the type to a T.
We settled into our seats, watched the incredibly dumb previews (at which point I began to worry even more about the quality of the movie, if the previews we saw were supposed to hit the demographic of Snakes on a Plane), and the house lights dimmed. As the title screen came up, so did an enthusiastic cheer from the audience, and we were off.
105 minutes later, I enthusiastically declared Snakes on a Plane to be one of the best cinematic experiences I had had in years. The premise was ludicrous, the foreshadowing overly heavy handed, and everyone already knew the ending of the movie. It was campy, and everyone was completely ok with that.
The audience took every opportunity to interact liberally with the movie. When one of the stewardesses asked (in reference to a famous rap singer), "Do you KNOW who is on this flight?!" the entire audience told her: "SNAKES!"
We elbowed each other and giggled at particularly overshadowing lines.
When Samuel L. Jackson delivered the line made famous by previews and bloggers everywhere ("That's it! I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!"), nobody in the audience actually heard the line because everyone was too busy cheering.
I half expected large rubber snakes to go flying through the air at any moment.
We laughed. We gasped as snakes jumped out, even though we always knew they were coming. Then, we laughed some more. At the end of the movie, everyone clapped and cheered. People exited the theater while talking excitedly about the movie, quoting lines, calling people to tell them about what they'd missed.
It occurred to me that every time I took my eyes off the screen, I looked around to see a completely enthralled audience loving every second of the film. Folks, I don't care WHAT the plot is, if that isn't good cinema, I don't know what is.
Labels: life
posted by Liz at 10:10 PM
1 Comments:
ah, man, that sounds like so much fun. :D
Snakes are the one thing Corey has issues with, so I won't be seeing this with him. I may have to wait for it to come out on PPV or On Demand or, at the very least, DVD and watch it myself someday...but it won't be nearly the experience you had.
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