Anaconda (1997)

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is a mind-numbing but entertaining monster snake movie. It is a quite exciting adventure but the depth is non-existent and there is no humour. It's all totally ridiculous. It isn't especially violent and there is no nudity but Jennifer is looking mighty fine so it is all good. I quite enjoyed it as there is no thought power required. One of the best giant snake movies and with that title comes pure cheesiness.

A "National Geographic" film crew is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who takes them along on his quest to capture the world's largest - and deadliest - snake. If there's a definition of a bad/good/over the top and corny pop corn action film then that is definitely the 1997 original Anaconda starring Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson and Danny Trejo and although the movie has some pretty bad cgi, over the top acting and action it's still a great horror film and easily the best of all this Snake films it's fun, action packed and has a lot of great tension and after all this years it still screams 90's to me.

At one time Werner Herzog tried to bring opera/commerce to the jungles of the Amazon with his film Fitzcarraldo, which featured as its primary set piece a boat being dragged over a mountain side. Gone are those days; indeed fifteen years after that in 1997 audiences got just a quick scene of opera being blared in the jungle - this comes after Ice Cube's "hippity hop" has played, which actually isn't that bad - while Jon Voight hijacks a small boat of documentary filmmakers (through stealth) to hunt after giant snakes. So it goes.Anaconda was a movie I watched many times when it was on HBO. I probably recognized then it was trash, but it was highly watchable trash, with convincing performances (for what they're asked to do) and some high-grade cheesy lines and mannerisms. Seeing it again today, it holds up as a B-movie blow-out, and is dated mostly by its bad CGI of snakes and has one too many climaxes for comfort. It's one thing when Fatal Attraction does it, but this...It's highly mockable (i.e. Rifftrax took it on live this year), but perhaps the filmmakers knew it? The actors don't seem to, certainly not hapless Owen Wilson - or maybe Voight does, and in his way it's one of the few times, albeit in a total cartoonish performance where he has practically the same grimacing facial expression with Paraguaian accent from start to finish - and maybe that helps elevate it. It's still watchable... which is about the best to say about it, with some competent direction helping along the way - along with some befuddling choices like a Snake-POV camera.Maybe it's best today as a party movie: turn it on, have some brews, and laugh at how that snake just seems to keep coming back and back again (and if it's more than one giant snake, why is it such a big deal?) Oh well... sequels came of this as well.

Secret, because who would otherwise admit to liking this guilty pleasure? It is closest to Creature from the Black Lagoon in its structure: a trip down the Amazon of an ill-assorted group, a search for an elusive creature, or in this case, at first at least, the People of the Mist; some red shirt people; and Jon Voight playing the Nestor Paiva sort of role of the guy who's been on the river too long--and a would-be priest, no less. The virtues of the film include, most importantly, Voight's funny and outrageous performance (do Paraguayans sound like that?!). The beautiful Jennifer Lopez is eye candy. There is also the stuffy English narrator of the documentary they are making and Owen Wilson in his usual feckless character mode. And of course there is the titular character and star of the show. Altogether it's fun and moves along briskly.