Snakes on a Plane (R, 2006)

Hawaii vacationer Sean (Nathan Philips) witnesses a drug kingpin (Byron Lawson) murdering his legal prosecutor. Instantly targeted for death himself, Sean is rescued by federal agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson), who arranges to escort him back to the States to testify. Within minutes, snakes that have been smuggled on board the plane are awakened and let loose.

True to its title, SNAKES ON A PLANE doesn't offer much beyond this basic plot point. The chaos is episodic and ridiculous, producing lots of swollen, bloodied bodies as well as stiffly delivered bad dialogue. Flynn and the sensible flight attendant Claire (Julianna Margulies) are plainly the couple-to-be, and they valiantly fight off the menace posed by the snakes and the mostly idiotic (that is, set up to die) passengers. They are helped in their efforts by the many-times-bitten copilot Rick (David Koechner) and rapper Three Gs (Flex Alexander)'s video game fanatic bodyguard Troy (Kenan Thompson) (you can guess what role he'll play by film's end).

As kooky and deliberately "bad" as Snakes tries to be, it's mostly just unimaginative. The main action is more repetitive than clever (snakes slide and bite, victims clutch wounds and gasp). For a movie that seems aware of its predecessors, you'd expect more intelligence concerning what made those B-movies so much fun. Their cheesiness was not arrogant or presumptive; it was strange, shrewd, and unexpected.