TheMovieStory

The movie gained a considerable amount of attention before its release, forming large fan bases online and becoming an Internet phenomenon, due to the film’s title and premise. In response to the Internet fan base, New Line Cinema incorporated feedback from online users into its production, and added five days of reshooting. Before and after the film was released, it was parodied and alluded to on television shows and films, fan-made videos, video games, a noise album dubbed Soundtrack for the Motion Picture Snakes on a Plane, and various forms of literature. Despite the immense Internet buzz, the film’s gross revenue did not live up to expectation.[1][3]

The film is rated R by the MPAA, 15 by the BBFC, M by the OFLC and 14A by the CHVRS, due to explicitlanguage, a scene depicting drug use and sex, and sequences of terror and violence.[4]

Plot

After witnessing the brutal murder of a prosecutor by gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) and his band of thugs, Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) is escorted by FBI agents Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) and John Sanders (Mark Houghton) to testify in a highly publicized case in Los Angeles. Despite increased security for the flight, Kim arranges for time-release crates full of venomous snakes to be placed in the cargo hold of South Pacific Air Flight 121, a Boeing 747-400 on which Jones will be flying from Honolulu to LAX in Los Angeles. The leis given to the passengers by airport staff upon their departure had been secretly sprayed with pheromones to make the snakes more aggressive in an attempt to bring down the plane before it reaches its destination.

The other passengers include rapper Three Gs (Flex Alexander) who suffers from a Howard Hughes-like fear of disease, with his two bodyguards Troy and Big Leroy (Kenan Thompson and Keith Dallas); a rich girl Mercedes (Rachel Blanchard) with her dog, Mary Kate; a Latin woman (Elsa Pataky) named Maria, Isabella, traveling with her baby; two young boys, Curtis and Tommy Brown, who are traveling by themselves for the first time; Chen Leong (Terry Chen), a kickboxer; Tyler (Tygh Runyan) who has a phobia of flying and is returning from his honeymoon with wife Ashley (Emily Holmes); and Paul (Gerard Plunkett), a British businessman who is unhappy with being moved from first-class to coach. The flight crew includes Claire Miller (Julianna Margulies) who is leaving after the flight to become a lawyer (However the lawyer sub-plot was cut reducing the length of two scenes during the movie); Grace (Lin Shaye), a senior attendant; Ken (Bruce James), a flamboyant crew member who displays effeminate behavior; and Tiffany (Sunny Mabrey), a young, attractive attendant who flirts with Sean.

The crate opens midway through the flight, and the snakes make their way throughout the cabin through an access hatch. A girl named Kelly (Samantha McLeod) and her boyfriend Kyle (Taylor Kitsch) take off their shirts and are having sex in the bathroom when they are unexpectedly attacked by snakes and killed. Kelly is bitten on the right breast and Kyle is bitten on the neck. Afterwards, 3G’s tries to escape the snakes by opening the toilet where they were having sex and their bodies fall out onto him with numerous bites all over their bodies. Soon after, a man is killed while urinating in an aircraft toilet when a snake comes out of the toilet bowl and bites his penis.

The plane’s captain, Sam McKeon (Tom Butler), investigates a short which, unbeknownst to him, was caused by a snake. After fixing the problem, he is bitten and killed by the viper that caused the short. Since nobody had seen what killed him, co-pilot Rick (David Koechner) comes to the conclusion that the captain had suffered a heart attack. Since the plane is halfway to its destination, Rick decides not to turn around.

Eventually, some snakes make their way into the cockpit of the plane and attack Rick. While fending them off, Rick accidentally releases the oxygen masks throughout the plane, and many snakes drop into the cabin with them. Numerous passengers, including Sanders, are killed in the attack. The surviving passengers, who had made their way to the front of the plane where there were no snakes, put up a blockade of luggage. However, due to turbulence, Mercedes and Maria had been knocked unconscious and were stranded in the back of the plane, Mercedes with Mary Kate and Maria with Isabella. Mercedes is saved at the last second by Chen Leong from a snake attack. Chen makes his way to the front of the plane with Mercedes and Mary Kate. Soon after, Grace hears Isabella’s cries. She tears down the luggage blockade to find her. She comes across Maria, who has just woken up, and does not know where Isabella is. Grace soon finds the baby, but is bitten by a rattlesnake saving her (Grace later dies due to the snake bite). The three make their way back to the front of the plane and the luggage barrier is rebuilt.

Agent Flynn contacts FBI Special Agent Hank Harris (Bobby Cannavale) on the ground, who arranges for emergency crews to be waiting at Los Angeles International Airport. Agent Harris then calls ophiologist Dr. Steven Price (Todd Louiso), who asks Flynn to gather the dead snakes so Flynn can describe them to Price and Price can identify the snakes and therefore the antivenom needed. This proves fruitless as the passengers don’t know anything about snakes. Mercedes, however, comes up with the idea of sending Dr. Price photos of the dead snakes using her smartphone. Dr. Price notices that the snakes had come from all over the world. He then remembers Kraitler, a snake dealer who lives in Los Angeles who could have been the person that arranged the snakes.

Rick is attacked by the viper that had killed the captain, and they both fall through the hatch that leads below the flight deck. The plane starts to dip downwards and a food trolley crashes through the luggage blockade, allowing the snakes to break through. Tyler and Ashley, who were knocked down by the trolley, are killed by snakes. Many passengers decide to flee to First Class, where there are no snakes, while several others are killed in the chaos. As passengers make their way up the stairs, a Burmese python falls into the cabin from the lighting panel it had been making its way through and turns toward Paul and Mercedes. Paul tries to distract the python by flinging Mercedes’ dog, Mary Kate, into the python’s jaws. The tactic only provides a momentary distraction, as Paul is also eaten by the snake. As all the surviving passengers finally reach the first class cabin, the snakes continues to pursue them and the passengers try to build up another wall with the passengers’ bags. However, one of the flight attendants Tiffany, soon comes up with a better idea- block the stairs entrance to the first class cabin with an inflatable liferaft.

Flynn goes into the cargo hold of the plane in order to restore the air conditioning/ventilation system, without which the plane would overheat and plummet into the ocean. While searching for the switch, he angrily discovers a mechanical panel that had been intentionally left open to allow the snakes to reach the cabin. Flynn fixes the ventilation system successfully.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Agent Harris and Dr. Price go to Kraitler’s snake farm. After a shootout, Harris extracts a confession from Kraitler, who confirms that he was the person who illegally obtained the snakes for Kim’s use. He is then taken into custody, with his stock of antivenin being commandeered for the surviving snakebite victims aboard the plane. It is revealed that Eddie Kim will likely receive capital punishment.

It is finally daytime on Flight 121. Flynn returns to First Class and is contacted by Harris, who lets Flynn know that he has the antivenom and it will be ready for passengers when they reach the airport. However, Flynn soon discovers that the cockpit is filled with snakes, and that Rick is dead. Claire asks the passengers if any of them know how to fly a plane, but Flynn tells her that he can land it with some guidance from the control tower. However, Three G’s tells them that he knows someone with flight experience; his bodyguard Troy. Troy says that he has over 2,000 hours of flight time and agrees to land the plane. After Claire reminds everybody that the snakes have to be cleared out of the cockpit, Flynn delivers the movie’s fan-anticipated catchphrase: “Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!” He tells everybody to “strap in”, because he is “about to open some fucking windows”. After everybody gets prepared, Flynn uses his pistol to shoot out two windows, causing the plane to depressurize. Troy pulls the cockpit door open with a rope and the snakes are blown out, along with the majority of the snakes on the lower floor of the plane, including a half-swallowed Paul and the Burmese python consuming him.

Flynn and Troy take the controls of the plane. Troy reveals that his flight experience was actually from a flight simulator for the PlayStation 2. With nobody else on the plane having any sort of flight experience, Flynn talks the control tower into letting Troy land the plane. After a nearly-unsuccessful emergency landing, Flight 121 is safely back on the ground. The surviving passengers finally set foot on land, and antivenom is given to those who need it. However, just as Flynn and Sean are about to get off the plane, a snake jumps out and bites Sean in the chest. Flynn draws his gun and shoots the snake, causing Sean to tumble down the slide. Paramedics rush to Sean, and Flynn rips open Sean’s shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest.

As the passengers and crew depart, Flynn offers to take Claire to dinner for a date, which she accepts. Meanwhile, Tiffany kisses Sean and gives him her phone number. Flynn and Sean meet up again, and Sean invites Flynn surfing. The closing shots feature Sean surfing with Flynn, presumably in Bali, a place to which Sean had been planning a surfing trip before the incident on Flight 121.

Cast

Snakes

Over 450 snakes were used for filming to represent thirty different species of snakes.[54] The different species include a 19-foot Burmese python named Kitty (which the crew named Kong for film purposes), a Scarlet Kingsnake (the non-venomous double for the coral snake), a milk snake to fill in for the Taipan (which attacks the couple having sex), corn snakes, rattlesnakes, and mangrove snakes.[55] About two-thirds of the snakes seen throughout the film were either animatronic or computer generated.[56] The snakes that were real were mostly the non-venomous ones that are never seen attacking anyone per se. The scenes where someone is clearly bitten were often done with the most animation. According to the DVD, “all” the snakes had production names, but only “Scarface” (an animated pit viper), “Peanut” (a cobra) and “Kong” are mentioned by name in the audio commentary.