Review: ANACONDA

Title: ANACONDA

Year: 1997

Director: Luis Llosa

Writer: Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuher, Eric Stoltz, Danny Trejo

ANACONDA recently received a bluray release from Mill Creek and I was quite excited by this. I was 11 when ANACONDA first came out. I remember seeing it and liking it then but my memory of the actual film itself was quite vague. Getting the opportunity to re-visit the film so many years later had me very intrigued as to what I would think now. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.

The story is pretty basic and nothing completely new. It's sort of a take on MOBY DICK with a bit of JAWS splashed in for good measure and a pinch of KING KONG to make the dish complete. It's not nearly as good as any of these movies, but it certainly borrows from them in various ways.

A documentary film crew consisting of J.Lo, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson and the British comic relief from THE MUMMY franchise, heads out the Amazon to work on their next film. Along the way they pick up Paul (Jon Voight), a man who became stranded once his boat ran out of gas. They offer to take Paul to get gas and in exchange Paul offers to guide them through the Amazon, as he is a bit of an expert on the jungle.

It doesn't take long for Paul to reveal his true colors. Paul has no intention of helping them. His plan is to use the crew and their boat to assist him in tracking down a giant anaconda. Paul's had encounters with this anaconda before and he knows capturing it will equal big time money.

The film offers up a few different interesting conflicts. On the surface it's really everyone against the anaconda but there's actually a lot more to it than that. Paul is fighting the film crew on two different fronts. He must fight them to use their boat but to also prevent them from killing the anaconda. At the same time he's fighting the anaconda but not wanting to actually kill it. Then you have the crew fighting Paul and the anaconda while having internal conflicts amongst themselves. It's all quite interesting.

Still at the end of the day, ANACONDA is your standard b-movie, drive in fare. The beauty is the film knows this and when a film knows what it is that gives it the best chance to succeed.

Voight is truly fantastic as the villain. He's way over the top and borderline cartoonish but somehow manages to still be so damn sincere. He seems to capture the character and genuinely enjoy being him. He's sleazy and disgusting but yet rather charming. You know he's an asshole but you still want to see him succeed for some reason you can't comprehend.

Then there's the snake and one hell of a snake it is. It looks cheesy and the special effects leave quite a bit to be desired but dammit, it's fun! Plus it's not even all CGI! They actually used an animatronic anaconda at times. I approve! Oh and Frank Welker is responsible for the snake sounds. Another plus.

ANACONDA is a silly good time that leads up to a spectacular finish. This is a monster movie done right. Kudos to director Luis Llosa who handles the material right and knows exactly what to do with it. He gave me the type of movie that I wanted to see.

Rating: 4/5

**ANACONDA is now available on bluray from Mill Creek. The bluray is bare bones, but you can get it for around $10 and it looks good.