There are three kinds of movies in this world:

a. Genuine works of art, either being truly awe-inspiring or exceptionally entertaniing, a byproduct of diligent work and storytelling, e.g. The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

b. Movies that make bold attempts at attaining landmark achievement status, undertaking respectable amounts of work and financing, but fail miserably, e.g. Alexander.

c. Low-budget B movies that don’t take themselves seriously and were never aiming for anything higher than an obscure direct-to-dvd release, or at best a lackluster theatrical run, e.g. Open Water.

Or at least, I thought these were the three tiers that all movies fell into. That is, untill I made the decision to go see Snakes on a Plane with some friends yesterday, a decision that has forever morphed my perception of movie anatomy. Yes, because I now see a fourth category:

d. Movies that have huge budgets, all-star casts, and are widely hyped, yet marketed as and are essentially B movies, e.g. Snakes on a Plane.

Yes, yes Snakes on a Plane. I must say I’ve been anticipating it since April, when an internet craze surrounding its release with a magnitude not seen since such classics as All Your Base erupted. Bogus audition tapes, music, fanmade trailers, blogs, all about Snakes on a Plane. And nearly every single one of these SoaP spoofs were painting the movie as something completely absurd and the worst thing to hit Hollywood in years. It was widely being ridiculed as a film devoid of plot, substance, entertainment, or any redeeming value whatsoever. All based on little more than a few soundclips from the movie (“I’ve had enough of these muthafucking snakes on this muthafucking plane!”).

In a way this was an unintended viral advertising campaign for the film, and undoubtedly created a massive aura of hype and a cult fanbase for the film, proving quite advantageous for the box-office.

However, all this hype, as alluded above, was generally in resounding mockery of the movie. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that most people watched it simply in sheer curiosity and astonishment, I mean, how good could a movie called “Snakes on a Plane” possibly be?

But as I was sitting through the previews, there was always a nagging thought in the back of my mind…this couldn’t possibly be as outrageous as all the hypewas suggesting. Maybe it wouldn’t be that insane of a movie after all? Maybe just some generic action movie with Samuel L. Jackson, nothing special, nothing outrageous, nothing to talk about.

And I was wrong. The hype was right. Snakes on a Plane was exactly what it was intending to be, a movie with membrane-thin plot depth, appalingly extreme and depraved action scenes, and a nonstop ride till the end.

And it rocked. In a juvenile, sick way.

Snakes doesn’t pull any punches, at all. Basically the entire film consits of huge, violent snakes wreaking havoc through a plane. The action scenes are extremely gory, with people being torn to pieces by the creatures, down to every bloody detail. Samuel L. Jackson plays his part well as the “badass muthafucka”, the only real hero in the movie who ultimately saves the day, not without a lot of casualties though.

But Snakes isn’t just an action movie, its also a comedy, albeit an exceedingly crude one. Perverse jokes are scattered throughout, among them a snake entering the area where a couple is having sex, chaos ensuing, and a snake biting off a guy’s penis.

It may not sound funny here, but you’ll laugh when watching the movie. Probably. Its supposed to be funny, ok?

The effects are all solid, the plane, snakes, and other assorted aspects are all very realistic, at one point Jackson breaks out a flamethrower and starts incinerating all the snakes in sight, the effects are pulled off without a hitch. Everything besides the actual premise of the movie is fully believable.

The acting is decent, nothing remarkable, just what you would come to expect from an action movie. The only real gripe I had with Jackson’s role was that he really didn’t do as much “ass-kicking” as I had hoped, most of the movie was just the snakes killing everything in sight, a lot of scenes didn’t even feature Jackson at all. In this way the movie grew a bit repetitive, but it was allright, there was a decent payoff in the final scene on the plane, which I don’t have the liberty to spoil.

All in all the movie is exactly what I had dreamt it would be, a chaotic romp completely absent of a coherent plot. It was incessantly violent and immature, but thats exactly what it was intending, a fun little action flick that didn’t take itself seriously. The aesthetics of a B movie gore-fest with the budget of a high-proflile Hollywood flick.

Sure, it could have been more innovative, it didn’t have to be as repetitive as it was, but whatever, who really cares? If you have an appetite for a rollercoaster of a movie, ride this one, its a real bitch.

Oh, and we finally learn the answer to the elusive question, “Why the hell did they call it Snakes on a Plane?”. And the answer is very simple. Because there was nothing else to call it, thats all that happened. The only other thing they could have named it was Pacific Flight 121, and what the hell kind of a name is that anyway?

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