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Anaconda
USA 1997
produced by Jack Epps jr, Verna Harrah, Carole Little, Leonard Rabinowitz, Susan Ruskin (executive) for Cinema Line Film Corporation, Iguana Producciones, Middle Fork Productions, Skylight Cinema Foto Art, St. Tropez Films/Columbia
directed by Luis Llosa
starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos, Danny Trejo
written by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, Jack Epps jr, music by Randy Edelman, animatronic effects by Edge Innovations
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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A small documentary filmcrew - showrunner Terri (Jennifer Lopez), host
Westridge (Jonathan Hyde), "expert" Cale (Eric Stoltz), cam guy
Danny (Ice Cube) and crew (Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer) - have hired guide
Serone (Jon Voight) to lead them into a territory where one of the last
"lost" native tribes of the Amazon jungle is supposed to be
found. However, the expedition seems to be under a bad star from the
get-go, and soon the boat - commandeered by Serone's crony Mateo (Vincent
Castellanos) - loses all of its fuel supply, and Cale has a near fatal
accident and needs urgent medical attention. So the team makes the
decision to abandon the project and turn around ... but Serone has a
different idea: Fact is, he couldn't care less about lost tribes and
documentaries, but is on a mission to hunt the biggest and deadliest snake
of them all, a giant anaconda that has been sighted in that particular
part of the Amazon. And he really couldn't care less about the filmmakers
or their well-being, in fact he considers them as bait more than anything
else. Of course, our documentarians are not happy about this, but Serone's
a cunning one and has pretty much tricked them into their position.
Problem is, the anaconda in question is a bit bigger than expected, and
soon even Serone has to admit he's in it over his head - so a deadly fight
for survival commences, and as much is sure, not many will survive ... When
Anaconda came out in 1997, it was quick to be ridiculed by pretty
much everybody - but maybe not for the right reasons. Actually, except for
the titular creature itself (an unconvincing mix of animatronics and CGI
that basically fails to look scary), the film is rather well-made, with
all the action and shocks in the right places. The problem comes when we
talk about the film's narrative, as the script feels like a soulless pile
of adventure movie clichés that have been done way better in the past,
with characters that are paperthin walking through one genre mainstay
after the next. And unfortunately, none of the actors are capable of
giving their two-dimensional characters much depth, with the usually
dependable Jon Voight really taking the cake with his outlandish portrayal
of the villain with a terrible accent. The other problem, the film feels
like a low budget flick throughout while the reported budget of 45 million
Dollars clearly suggests otherwise - the money just doesn't translate onto
the screen. That all said, the worst about the film is the fact that it's
actually not all bad, so doesn't really qualify as a so-bad-it's-good
guilty pleasure, it's just a film brought down by its mediocricy and
sollessness.
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