Snakes on a Plane - The greatest film ever made

Okay, so 'Snakes on a Plane' may not - sadly - be recognised as 'the greatest film ever made' - I may have slightly exaggerated that one.  However, it is a shining example of a film that tells you everything you need to know about it from four words alone.  You probably don't even need to watch any form of trailer to know whether you're going to enjoy it or not.  Therefore, if the prospect of a plane filled with poisonous snakes slithering after a load of hapless passengers then you really shouldn't even consider sitting down to watch it.

However, if - like me - you sometimes feel like putting your brain 'on hold' for an hour and a half and want to watch something completely silly and completely implausible then you should definitely give it a go.  If you need to know anything about 'the plot' then it centres around Samuel L Jackson playing an FBI agent (or basically playing Samuel L Jackson - he doesn't really put much extra effort into his performance, but - who cares - we all love him for what he does!) who has to transport a vital witness (via plane, of course) across America in order to get him to testify against some gangster or other.  However, said bad-man decides the best way to stop this witness from ever fingering him in court would be to 'take down' the whole plane with a whole crate of poisonous snakes who will bite every last passenger.

Now, if you're wondering how a film with such a simple premise can stretch itself out into over an hour and a half long, it can.  Believe it or not, it does have a little more (and only a little!) depth than you may think.  Yes, many of the snakes are CGI and yes, most of the victims' characters are hardly 'well-developed' during the story and it even succumbs to some typical horror cliches such as 'have sex and die,' but there's just something so damn enjoyable about this film that you can pretty much forgive every last minor gripe about it.

As I said, Samuel L Jackson doesn't have to reach far to play this FBI agent - he's basically playing a cross between himself and the same character he plays in almost every other film he's in.  But - most importantly - he seems to be having fun.  And that's what shines through - not just with him, but in the whole film.  It never tries to be anything other than a daft popcorn movie and it succeed completely.  It's Jackson's baby through and through, as you probably won't remember a single other person on the flight once the credits have rolled.  There is a woman from UK TV's 'Peep Show' and David Koechner is always worth a watch, but, apart from them, it's hardly an 'ensemble' cast.

As I said, the title tells you everything you should need to know about the film.  If you choose to watch it and you find you don't enjoy it, I'd be very surprised.  It's worth it alone from Jackson's delivery of the now famous line, 'I have had it with those xxxxx snakes on this xxxx plane!' Classic.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that