Tags
1990's, Adventure, Anaconda, Eric Stoltz, Horror, Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Jonathan Hyde, Kari Wuhrer, Luis Llosa, Owen Wilson, Vincent Castellanos
Film Title
Anaconda
Director
Luis Llosa
Starring
- Jennifer Lopez as Terri Flores
- Ice Cube as Danny Rich
- Jon Voight as Paul Serone
- Eric Stoltz as Dr. Steven Cale
- Jonathan Hyde as Warren Westridge
- Owen Wilson as Gary Dixon
- Kari Wuhrer as Denise Kalberg
- Vincent Castellanos as Mateo
A gleefully nasty and exciting horror/adventure, Anaconda isn’t going to win any prizes for superlative film making or emotive writing. But that isn’t what the film is all about, it’s about surrendering to the gloriously tongue in cheek horror and on that score it registers at a high rating.
Terri Flores is a director of documentaries who thinks she’s nearing a big break. Her latest expedition is down the Amazon River to find proof that a legendary Indian tribe known as The People of the Mist has not vanished and is far from forgotten. Joining her on a boat down the river as part of her film crew is her anthropologist love interest Dr. Steven Cale, good friend and cameraman Danny Rich, the snobby English narrator Warren Westridge, sound engineer Gary, his production manager girlfriend and Mateo, the captain of the boat. Along the way in their journey, they pick up Paul Serone, a mysterious Paraguayan man who is stranded on the embankment and makes his living capturing snakes. He claims to have knowledge over where the fabled tribe is and travels with them down a new route to where he says they reside. Serone manages to put everyone on edge with his unusual ways and slimy appearance, most of all Cale who catches him out on a number of lies. Yet before he can act upon these suspicions, he is stung by a wasp that gets caught in his swimming gear when he’s sorting out something under the boat and as a result, he is rendered unconscious. The odious and crazed Serone takes charge of the boat and his true diabolical motives are quickly revealed to all. He is forcefully using the crew as bait so he can hunt the famed and very dangerous 40-foot anaconda. And sure enough, the giant snake is soon on the attack, crushing anyone in its way before swallowing them whole as its next meal. As Serone slips further into psychosis in his hopes of capturing the predator, it’s up to Terri and the others to fight against the giant snake as it picks through the crew very quickly, leaving a blood soaked carnage in its wake.
Luis Llosa’s direction is efficient and while nothing particularly special, still retains a feeling of suspense and adventure. Llosa understands that the material within Anaconda is not meant to be taken seriously and he acquits himself well in this respect, while still giving some good gross out scares and disquieting deaths. A misty visual style, capturing the Amazon Rain forest setting and its dangerous splendour as well as frenetic camerawork helps the film go at a quick pace that keeps chills and dark laughs coming thick and fast. Chief among these moments is the creepy shot of the approaching anaconda slowly digesting a victim that we can see the impression of the terrified face and an attack scene of the snake snatching one of the crew as they jump from a waterfall. It must be said that the script is rather simple and dialogue nothing revelatory in terms of character development, but with so many thrills going on, does it really matter? Now it must be said that the main antagonist of the film the killer anaconda is something people are divided on when it comes to the film. The creature is rendered through both animatronics and CGI, and it must be said that the execution is more than a bit hokey. If they’d gotten rid of the CGI it could have been more memorable, but when the animatronics is on show, as ropy and often laughable as it is, it adds a B-movie quality to this already slightly goofy film. While Anaconda is an exercise in tongue in cheek horror, it doesn’t scrimp on the suspense and scares, brought out through a very good score that heavily features drums growing quicker as the giant snake makes its presence known in a very threatening way.
Jennifer Lopez makes for a grounded and very tough lead in the film, doing battle as much with her smarts as her fists. She works well alongside Ice Cube, who plays the smart ass and sarcastic cameraman Danny. Jon Voight turns in a performance of extravagant hamminess as the utterly maniacal Serone, who has no qualms about using his rescuers as potential food for the eponymous snake. Sporting a shifty ponytail and dodgy attempt at a Paraguayan accent, Voight’s performance sails over these questionable aspects with evil glee and serviceable menace that is just right for this kind of movie. And he really knows how to turn on the slimy factor and lather it up to levels of psychopathic overdrive. Eric Stoltz has something of a heroic nature about him in the beginning but when his character is incapacitated, he is is required to do very little. There is also of note an amusing Jonathan Hyde as the pompous actor clearly out of his depth when it comes to survival because of his fussy ways. The rest of the cast, consisting of Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer and Vincent Castellanos are purely in the film to be snake bait for the ferocious anaconda.
A somewhat daft but very exciting and thrilling horror, Anaconda if seen in the right way is as a slithering creature feature in a B-movie style makes for a good way to kill an hour or so and doesn’t require nary a speck of brain power.
reviewedbymarkleonard said:
It’s so much fun, with Voight in full ham mode. Enjoyed the heck out of it in theaters back in 1997. Nice job.
ML
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vinnieh said:
He really just went over the top and crazy here and it worked so well.
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mikeyb @ screenkicker said:
Voight has made this a classic! I didn’t even realise he was supposed to be Paraguayan!
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vinnieh said:
Haha, his accent was supposed to be Paraguayan but it sounds mangled.
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mikeyb @ screenkicker said:
Which just makes it even better!
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vinnieh said:
Very true.
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allendemir said:
Voight’s accent is probably the thing I remember most about this movie. Second being the part where he gets vomited up. Third being the snake.
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vinnieh said:
All pretty memorable things.
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fragglerocking said:
Haha V-man great review, I gave it a miss originally but will keep it in mind if I see it come up on the tube.
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vinnieh said:
It’s silly but enjoyable.
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beetleypete said:
‘Daft’ is right mate. This is one dodgy B-film in every respect. It is on TV almost every week, so I have occasionally seen the first half, sometimes the last half, or snippets in between. The snake is so bad, it is either very good, or ruins the film, depending on your point of view.
Lopez again? Still a Netflix coincidence? (I think not…)
Cheers, Pete.
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vinnieh said:
Yes I saw it on TV too. It genuinely is a coincidence with Lopez, honest.
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beetleypete said:
OK. My jury is out, on the ‘Lopez Question.’ Mind you, one more Lopez film this week, and you are heading down the steps!
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vinnieh said:
Haha, I’m gonna find some other movies to see.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I was surprisesurprised by how much I liked this. I agree that Voight really clinched this.😊
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vinnieh said:
Me too, I just accepted the film for what it was and lapped it up.
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Diego said:
This really scared me when I was younger aha
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vinnieh said:
Haha, I think I had a similar experience.
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stevenmjohnson91 said:
I forgot Ice Cube was in this!! Now I want to see it again haha
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vinnieh said:
I had forgotten than he and Jennifer Lopez were both in this. Couldn’t forget Jon Voight though.
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stevenmjohnson91 said:
J Lo absolutely knocked me out in “Selena” so I want to give her another shot in these early movies.
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vinnieh said:
I really want to see Selena. You are right, her earlier movies are particularly good and she is a solid actress in them.
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stevenmjohnson91 said:
Wrote a piece on Selena here if you’re interested: https://popculturepundit.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/selena-1997/. The more I think about it the more I like it – first-class biopic!
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vinnieh said:
I’m gonna bookmark that post, thanks for the link. I look forward to reading it.
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Paul S said:
Anaconda’s saving grace is Jon Voight, who hams it up wonderfully. Here is a man who knows exactly what kind of movie he’s in, and apparently he loves the flavour of the cheese!
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vinnieh said:
He hams it up to maximum level.
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ninvoid99 said:
It’s an awful film but goddamnit, it is fun to watch. Especially because of Jon Voight who hams it up as he just makes the film so fun to watch.
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vinnieh said:
Voight just goes overboard in the best possible way, making the film so enjoyable.
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emmakwall said:
Nice review Vinster 🙂
I haven’t seen this in quite a long time but I enjoyed it when I did!
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vinnieh said:
It’s a big guilty pleasure of mine.
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Hypersonic55 said:
Hey man, I remember this film from my childhood and I really used to like it, plus it scared me from what I remember. A giant snake killing people, no thanks, that’s not a way I’d wanna go out haha. But I’m pretty sure I caught it on TV a few years ago and I just didn’t enjoy it the way that I used to, maybe it’s because the nostalgia’s worn off or that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
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vinnieh said:
I can see why some of the nostalgia could have worn off as it’s a far from perfect movie. But it’s definitely still enjoyable.
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Josh Hammond said:
Glad I’m not the only one who liked this terrible movie. My friends and I did an amateur Mystery Science Theater 3000 one night when we were (surprise) the only people in the place. Definitely a good bad movie. And the CGI was terrible, even for a 90s flick.
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vinnieh said:
I see the movie as a guilty pleasure and you’re right about the CGI being pretty shoddy.
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Cici said:
You know my love for everything b-movie related means I loved this movie so much I watched the other 2 movies in the series even though they sucked. I would rewatch this movie today if I had it. My favorite scene was when the anaconda puked the man out. it was just gross enough to entertain me!
Great review!
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vinnieh said:
It’s ridiculously entertaining and over the top.
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Mario said:
I loved this film growing up. Nice review, makes me want to revisit it.
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vinnieh said:
I remember the first time I saw it, still like the movie although it’s a guilty pleasure to be certain.
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helaryyannick said:
https://helped.wordpress.com/
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vinnieh said:
I’ve just followed your blog, nice stuff.
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helaryyannick said:
Thanks for your comment !!
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vinnieh said:
Anytime. I appreciate your visit on my blog.
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