AnacondaRating:
Release Date: 20 January, 1998 Retail Price: $27.95 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (7 total) |
Anaconda Reviews
Lightweight fun with gruesome deaths
The plot is thinner than a Kleenex, J-Lo attempts to play an (unusually gorgeous and well-dressed) aspiring film student who, with her tough-but-lovable assistant Ice Cube, somehow find themselves on a barge along with a few other ditzy Hollywood stereotypical characters, including an over-the-top Englishman, heading up some remarkably bug-free Amazon tributary to film a documentary.
As fate would have it, they happen upon Jon Voight's character (Jon Voight! Is that really him?!), who A) blows the other actors off the screen B) is a genuinely creepy psychotic presence. They "rescue" him from his stranded boat.
There are brief flashes of brilliance in this story, but they are paved over by the horsey acting from all parties excepting Mr. Voight and Mr. Cube. Jon Voight is terrific, and Ice Cube is playing himself. Who cast this mess? J-Lo's famous shape is displayed, nay, showcased, in at least half a dozen scenes. The movie is beautifully photographed, which makes the near-total lack of a believable story unfortunate, and the absurd ending, complete with the 100% anticipated surprise ending, leaves you yawning. By 2006 standards the special effects seem quaint.
Watch it for the cinematography and Jon Voight. And J-Lo's delectable corpus. Cute boobs and a sensational rear end, I must say.
Smart , entertaining action movie. Jon Voight makes this one a guilty pleasure
Anaconda is a smart, clever horror flick. A well-written script, a solid cast of actors and excellent cinematography make this film stand out so well that you overlook the cheesy CGI and rubber snakes.
Basically the story is about a documentary film crew looking to make a movie about a tribe in South America. On their journey down the river, a knowledgeable tracker slithers his way on board the ship. Using his knowledge of human psychology along with some clever divisive tactics, the manipulative man wraps his grip around the crew and begins to trick them into his quest to poach a giant snake. I like the use of an anaconda in this movie. The snake is great metaphor for what this guy does to the crew psychologically.
The bodies don't start dropping in this movie until about an hour into the film. But unlike other horror movies, you really don't care about the body count or some cheesy rubber and CGI snake. The real snake is already on the screen, and you'll want to see is if the surviving crewmembers can overcome this predator's psychological manipulation. When the two remaining members of the film crew finally do outwit him, he becomes snake food. A few minutes later, the big computer generated snake gets flame broiled like a whopper. At the end of the movie they find that lost tribe they were looking for and begin filming their documentary.
What surprised me about Anaconda is the amount of depth this film had for a horror movie. I came in expecting low-budget cheese, but was surprised to see symbolism and metaphors mixed amongst the blood and gore. The well-written script has solid characters and develops all of them. Using a small cast of characters allows the viewer to get to know everyone and allows all the characters to have depth and dimension.
The acting in this movie are extremely solid. Jennifer Lopez gives a strong performance here and Ice Cube shows growth as an actor. Owen Wilson is good here as comic relief. However, Jon Voight steals the movie as the deadly South American snake poacher. Voight disappears into his character with perfect delivery of a South American accent that makes you think he's someone else.
Anaconda is well worth the purchase price. Pick this one up along with both versions of Carrie. Just be sure to avoid the sequel Anacondas, that movie is garbage. I'm a Salli Richardson fan (sadly she's in this for rent money, or to pay an electric bill or something. :( ) and even I wouldn't touch that wretched mess with a ten-foot pole.
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