Snakes on a Plane

You will be surprised with this review, and you may not totally believe me. In fact, I'm a little shocked myself. "Snakes on a Plane" is the best movie I have seen all summer and, perhaps, the most fun movie-going experience I've had in years.

The premise is pretty basic, yet classic on its own merits. Samuel L. Jackson stars as Neville Flynn, an FBI agent escorting a key witness to a murder (Nathan Phillips) back to Los Angeles from Hawaii to testify against bad guy Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson). Kim is determined to get rid of the unlucky witness any way he can. What he comes up with is the security scenario the FBI never planned for. Not only does he load the plane with hundreds of poisonous snakes, but he also makes sure everyone on board has a lei laced with a pheromone that will drive the snakes crazy. It will be the snakes that take the plane down, thus eliminating the only person who can provide testimony against him.

After that 30 minute set-up, we spend the next hour watching snake after snake attack passengers in more and more "unique" ways. It's up to Agent Flynn -- Jackson in all his bad-ass glory -- save the day as he tries to save his witness. The victims are predictable as soon as you meet them. The question is, how and when will a snake get to them?

"Snakes" is hilarious and frightening at the same time. I will never be able to confidently open on overhead bin again without fear of a snake attacking me. Now, let me also get something straight. While I said at the beginning that this is the best movie I've seen this summer, I don't mean from an Oscar-caliber point of view. Yes, it is cheesy, but that's one of its charms. The actors don't take themselves too seriously, but this also is not a satire. What really made the experience, and honestly was unexpected on my part, was the rowdiness of the crowd. They couldn't wait for Jackson to get on screen, and applauded every line he had. This will go down as a classic Samuel L. Jackson movie with phrases that can't be repeated here being repeated for some time to come. Not for the faint of heart or classically minded, but I give "Snakes" an A+ for its sheer entertainment value.

"Snakes on a Plane" is rated R with a running time of 105 minutes.