Snakes in a Post

Tonight was the night - it was the moment when I finally got to join the legions of others who turned up to see those Mothafuckin' snakes on the mothafuckin' plane. It was your standard action/disaster movie fare (defying all possible laws of physics, gravity and logic), so I'll spare you the detailed review. I will say that it was funny, scary, campy, gory, action-packed and well worth your dollars if this kind of thing is your particular brand of vodka.

My viewing companions and I were speculating after seeing the film about how long it would take the New York Times to write some poncy review/essay about how Snakes on a Plane functions as a cultural touchstone of some kind. I'm not sure if anyone had less than a week in the pool, but if they did, they won. Gawker posted a link to this review, which featured the following paragraph:

What the film earns somewhat more slyly is a firm slot in the cultural landscape, not least because of its scarily timely setting. This is, after all, “Snakes on a Plane,” not “Snakes on a Greyhound Bus.” But unlike “Flightplan” and “Red Eye,” two other recent airborne thrillers, “Snakes on a Plane” is less about surviving on airplanes than wresting control of them. In other words, it’s “United 93” without the tears. The filmmakers don’t overplay the political angle, though they do squeeze in a Middle Eastern snake and a scene of an F.B.I. agent sneering about the A.C.L.U. Mostly, though, what they give us is the chance to win, not with righteous morality, but with an old-fashioned swagger that says, much like the film itself, Hey, we may be stupid, but we rock.

Not quite the bloated, ponderous thinkpiece I was expecting, but that may still be coming.

Snakes in a Post

Tonight was the night - it was the moment when I finally got to join the legions of others who turned up to see those Mothafuckin' snakes on the mothafuckin' plane. It was your standard action/disaster movie fare (defying all possible laws of physics, gravity and logic), so I'll spare you the detailed review. I will say that it was funny, scary, campy, gory, action-packed and well worth your dollars if this kind of thing is your particular brand of vodka.

My viewing companions and I were speculating after seeing the film about how long it would take the New York Times to write some poncy review/essay about how Snakes on a Plane functions as a cultural touchstone of some kind. I'm not sure if anyone had less than a week in the pool, but if they did, they won. Gawker posted a link to this review, which featured the following paragraph:

What the film earns somewhat more slyly is a firm slot in the cultural landscape, not least because of its scarily timely setting. This is, after all, “Snakes on a Plane,” not “Snakes on a Greyhound Bus.” But unlike “Flightplan” and “Red Eye,” two other recent airborne thrillers, “Snakes on a Plane” is less about surviving on airplanes than wresting control of them. In other words, it’s “United 93” without the tears. The filmmakers don’t overplay the political angle, though they do squeeze in a Middle Eastern snake and a scene of an F.B.I. agent sneering about the A.C.L.U. Mostly, though, what they give us is the chance to win, not with righteous morality, but with an old-fashioned swagger that says, much like the film itself, Hey, we may be stupid, but we rock.

Not quite the bloated, ponderous thinkpiece I was expecting, but that may still be coming.