If, at the time you read this, Snakes on a Plane becomes a not-so-distant memory, at the time of its release, this film was surrounded by a lot of buzz. It's one of those movies that seemed to have its fan base even before its release, which generally doesn't bode well for overall film quality. David Ellis has, in the past, made good out of bad, however (Cellular and Final Destination 2), so it isn't so far fetched to believe that he may make it three in a row.

Well, too bad for Ellis, but Snakes can't quite reach the quality of camp that was deserved for its material. It's certainly not a bad picture all-in-all, but it does one too many things wrong, and it falls short of the memorable silliness that its reputation implies.

If you are one of the people out there that refuses to see Snakes on a Plane because you think it looks stupid, you are both correct and incorrect in your assumption. Correct, in that of course it's stupid, its premise guarantees that. Incorrect, in that being stupid is a bad thing all of the time. In a film like Stealth, that doesn't realize how stupid it is being, it is a major detriment. In movies like Eight-Legged Freaks or Snakes, where the film knows its concept is ridiculous and has fun with it, it is to the picture's ultimate advantage to be stupid. Attempting to rationalize the plot saps the fun out of it, and therefore the problem is yours, and not the film's.

In a movie like Snakes on a Plane, I don't require a whole lot of cinematic validity. It doesn't have to be clever. It doesn't have to inspire. It doesn't have to have good special effects. It doesn't even have to make sense. But, Snakes goes a little overboard in its cheesiness, and lack of overall focus to work as well as it should. Part of the problem, is that its concept only allows for a few ideas, and they get used up fairly quickly, which forces the film to meander in a quest for obligatory action sequences. It even at one point completely forgets about the character that the film believes to be its main character for a good half hour of screen time. I don't require character development, but I would have to think that the protagonist should get a chance to do something, or else why make him the protagonist? I would also have to think that the villain that put the evil snakes-on-the-plane plan into effect would have some screen time, but he is in a whopping two scenes, and one of them is the opener. These points are not deal breakers, but you add them to the fact that the movie doesn't make sense, doesn't have good special effects, and isn't at all clever, and in retrospect the film just isn't very good. It may not need to do all of these things well, but doing one of them isn't too much to ask, is it?

One thing that should be noted, and the main reason that the Snakes on a Plane stands out a bit over other “B” inspired pictures is that there are two extended scenes (that I counted) of inspired mayhem. One comes directly after the snakes first start attacking, and one comes much later. There are quite a few minutes of running time in which the people on the plane are running around in total panic, as carnage ensues around them. There is no focus in these scenes, and nothing happens but chaos. These scenes alone are brilliant enough that it may be worth seeing Snakes on a Plane altogether. Out of everything to remember about the film, I remember these sequences the clearest.