Anaconda (1997) Review

WEEK 2: SLITHERING SERPENTS 

Anaconda (1997) Review

Before low-budget snake movies became endlessly produced for the B-movie community, Columbia Pictures brought together a decent budget and a handful of capable actors, and produced a theatrically-released, honest-attempt at a killer snake film. Anaconda is largely responsible for the influx of killer animal films in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s (especially all the snake movies) and is partly why I love the amazon rainforest and wish to one day travel there. However, for most people, this movie will probably make them want to do the opposite.

The film opens with a man (played by none other than Machete himself, Danny Trejo) being pursued by an anaconda on his shipwrecked boat. It cuts to documentary director Terri (Jennifer Lopez) and her team, including, among others, lead cameraman Danny (Ice Cube), British narrator/host Westridge (Jonathan Hyde), and sound technician Gary (Owen Wilson, for some reason), who join South American tribe expert Dr. Cale (Eric Stoltz) on a journey through the Amazon to film the Shirishama natives, but their expedition hits an unexpected speed bump when they pick up kooky snake hunter Serone (Jon Voight), who, as it turns out, has been pursuing the anaconda that killed Danny Trejo in the beginning, and intends to capture it, by any means necessary.

Before the film begins, there’s an ominous paragraph about anacondas in red scrolling text over a black background that reads as follows: “Tales of monstrous, man-eating anacondas have been recounted for centuries by tribes people of the amazon basin, some of whom are said to worship these giant snakes.

“Anacondas are among the most ferocious—and enormous—creatures on earth, growing, in certain cases, as long as 40 feet. Unique among snakes, they are not satisfied after eating a victim. They will regurgitate their prey in order to kill and eat again.” While that might not all be scientifically accurate, it makes for a great killer animal premise, and Anaconda, as far as I’m concerned, is the best giant snake movie out there.

Most of the time with killer animal films, I don’t even bother listing characters’ names or the actors portraying them, either because the actors aren’t well known, or the characters are insignificant to the story. However, with these more mainstream productions, the acting talent is usually part of the draw, and that is certainly the case here. It’s hard to imagine J-Lo and Ice Cube fighting a giant snake nowadays, but it was a different time back in 1997. By the higher standards of a general thriller or horror film, the characters are one-dimensional and the acting is mediocre, but it’s great by killer snake movie standards. J-Lo is mostly there for eye candy, Ice Cube is charismatic and funny as usual, but poor Eric Stoltz gets the short end of the stick, because his character gets hurt early on and is out of action for about two-thirds of the movie. First Eric Stoltz almost gets cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, but that falls through, then he stars in the inferior sequel to David Cronenberg’s The Fly, then he’s in Mask but is all covered in makeup and prosthetics, and then he gets the most forgettable part in Anaconda! This guy can’t catch a break.

Back when Anaconda first came out, no one probably thought much of Owen Wilson starring in it, but watching it now and knowing the other films he’s been in, it’s like seeing the other wedding crasher, Vince Vaughn, in The Lost World: Jurassic Park; he just totally takes me out of the movie. The other side characters are fine—Jonathan Hyde is hilarious as the grumpy documentary host, playing golf on the boat and whining about Ice Cube’s rap tunes—but the character I have the biggest problem with is Serone. He’s introduced very suddenly, though pretty early on, and Jon Voight plays the role a little too silly. He’s always squinting and leering at everyone, with an accent that reminds me of Tommy Wiseau’s (but not quite that bad) and the hints that he might be a bad guy are not subtle.

Speaking of bad guys, Serone may be the human antagonist, but what about the reptilian one? In the same way as Jaws, Anaconda takes a top predator few people understand, and exaggerates it for maximum fright, and it works. Early in the movie a panther gets ambushed and squeezed to death, and its eye is shown to have popped out from the crushing pressure. It indicates the anaconda really is the top predator here, and much like the opening paragraph, is a tease of what they can do to the characters. Luckily, the movie fulfills those promises, and the third act is full of snake action, more so than the slower first and second acts.

But there’s more than just snakes and Serone to worry about. The environment is hostile and unpredictable, there are poisonous insects, and there’s even a catfish that’ll swim up your...you know what, just watch the movie to hear the explanation. And believe it or not, there’s more to like in this movie than just the killer snake scenes. Anaconda is actually quite well directed and reasonably suspenseful in the first two acts. It has good cinematography which brings the jungle to life, making it look beautiful and dangerous. The music is great as well, though nowhere near as memorable of a score as something like Jaws.

The special effects are pretty good, but they aren’t flawless. The snake cgi is okay in about half the shots it’s used in, but in the other half, it blends poorly with the background and/or actors. The animatronics look good, but their movements are a little stiff at times, and a couple close-ups of just the head make it look like a robot instead of a living creature. However, there are a couple innovative ideas utilized when the snake eats some people. The cgi and the animatronics don’t mesh too well, but it’s not the worst I’ve seen.

As much as I enjoy Anaconda, I do have a few issues with it. There are weird little moments and continuity errors, like a waterfall flowing backwards or the snake being injured from gunfire multiple times from one bullet. My main issue relates to the Serone character. Besides being too over-the-top at times, at about the halfway point, he recruits Owen Wilson’s character to help him catch the snake. It slows the middle of the movie down, and Ice Cube says a line that best sums up my thoughts on the situation: “How did we go from taking Cale to the hospital to catching a giant snake?” I wondered the same thing, Mr. Cube.

Maybe it’s because I’ve seen a million of these killer animal films (and I can understand why many people detest this one), but I think Anaconda is among the higher ranking entries in the sub-genre. It takes itself seriously, but still manages to be fun, and is much more re-watchable than the majority of killer snake films. Unlike that large majority, it doesn’t go for the stupid sequel-setup-ending, but it got a sequel anyway. Check out my review for the second Anaconda film tomorrow!