Snakes on a Plane

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

You have movies that are hot, you have movies that are hyped to the death and then you have Snakes on a Plane. This movie was months before its release and even during production the talk on movie forums. Even the film fans got the chance to redirect and write portions of the script by adding their thoughts and ideas to the producers so Snakes would become the movie for the fans and by the fans. In the end the movie didn't do badly at the box office but it didn't lure the fans that weren't hyping this movie to the death to the cinema so I think not a lot changed the course of this movie. However Samuel L. Jackson thereby got the chance to work on a film with the same composer he heard some times before, namely Trevor Rabin. Its fair to say Rabin has had an interesting and successful year in 2006. Gridiron Gang was a successful if slightly lesser sports score than Remember the Titans and for Flyboys Rabin stretched his orchestral muscles and wrote some impressive big music. Glory Road and The Guardian all had the nifty but tested Rabin ideas and so Snakes on a Plane would become the hyped affair in the end. Hyped is the word to use here because that's exactly what this score too was. Requested by fans so that Varèse couldn't stop the cry anymore and released its 37 minute roller coaster of fun in end March. However why this was requested more than say Glory Road is beyond me because Rabin may stretch other muscles here, its not that impressive as what came before it. Basically I don't know what makes it so memorable to start with. Okay as always with Rabin its cool at a certain degree and has got some nifty ideas but it doesn't have anything I can remotely look back at after the listen. Starting with 'Snakes on Crack' we have a surprising use of jazz during the fast opening and in a way it sounds weird, in another way it sounds cool and for that Rabin continued the corny road the moviemakers went for with the picture. 'Escape' however shows what road Snakes on a Plane goes for and that is The One electronics and electric guitar spunkiness.

For 'Oxygen Masks' and 'Snake Chaos' we reach the Rabin tone for the snakes in person, in track 4 its basically Beltrami stings and rhythm because I can't describe it anything less than that and in track 5 we have the rising and descending strings that define the snakes in person. I must say its effective and cool because its Rabin all the way and it shows him being cool and feisty, what this track in a way as well is. Creepy music in 'Sorting it Out' and full out bombardment of electronics and fast rhythms in 'Going Down' may present all too well the visuals in the movie, on disc it isn't always easy to follow despite as said the effectiveness. 'Serpent Situation' is a calm track with some dark moments, 'Snakes Kill' may start with probably the best part of this score (some genuine emotion tinkling) but soon goes into overdrive in the following tracks when the strings start to sound dangerously eerie, continued by full attacking creepiness in 'Snake Kebab' (using the attacking Deep Blue Sea method) and in 'Reptile Wrecker' the Beltrami / Rabin wagon is on full force. I know that 'Evacuation' is cool and sounds wonderfully optimistic (with the additional trumpet) but its one track and that doesn't make a picture nor CD. The problem with Snakes on a Plane isn't that its horrible, isn't that its not effective. The problem with it is why I don't get a tune out of it that makes me remember it (apart from the final track). Sure some ideas or methods are remembered but Deep Blue Sea (if you want to speak of another monster film of Rabin) had so much more themes, grand moves and basically a tone that kicked ass. Snakes on a Plane is an effective roller coaster that sadly doesn't remember itself when drawn away from the visuals. Its effective that it will sound cool in the film, so that that coolness with lose its appeal on disc. Something I think Varèse might considered as well despite the cry of the fans. For more interesting Rabin fare 2006 had loads more charm to offer of him.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Snakes On Crack (2.40)

2. Escape (1.35)

3. Snakes Spread (2.23)

4. Oxygen Masks (1.35)

5. Snake Chaos (5.24)

6. Sorting It Out (2.53)

7. Going Down (5.37)

8. Serpent Situation (4.09)

9. Snakes Kill (3.15)

10. Snake Kabab (1.56)

11. Anti-Venom Hope (1.16)

12. Reptile Wrecker (2.33)

13. Evacuation (2.01)

Total Length: 37.17

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Trevor Rabin ===