The title pretty much tells you all you need to know. Jaws with snakes is what this is. Okay, not exactly, but you get the idea. An expedition travelling up the Amazon to film a lost tribe for National Geographic makes the blunder of saving Jon Voight, a Paraguayan snake hunter, and he promises to lead them to the tribe. What he's really after is a giant anaconda from the Planet of Cheap Special Effects or maybe an escapee from a SyFy Channel movie. After that it's mostly a "who's going to die next?" movie. Owen Wilson? Ice Cube? Eric Stoltz? Jennifer Lopez? Jon Voight? One of the others?Shamefully denied an Oscar nomination for his performance, Voight goes all out with the wacky accent and wild looks. Jennifer Lopez looks great, and is of course totally believable as a movie director for National Geographic. She doesn't look bad in a wet t-shirt, either. Eric Stoltz is in a coma for most of the movie, and he does very well in the role. The others are all okay, but it's the snake that's the star. [Spoiler Alert] A snake like this is never dead until it's dead. [End Spoiler Alert]
If you like bad movies with a fine hammy performance at the center, you might get a kick out of Anaconda. Someone did because there are several sequels, none of which I've seen. I know they couldn't top this one.
6 comments:
I'll say this for Jennifer Lopez, she's more believable as a scientist than Denise Richards* was. Not that that's saying much.
/*Still the gold standard of "straining credulity somewhat."
The sequel had one of the greatest titles of all time.
ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID.
I agree, Voight and J-Lo make the movie, along with the snake of course.
CASTLE had an amusing play on the whole "Denise Richards as nuclear physicist" thing last night, with several cast members making fun of a "hot babe" playng an archaeologist in an 80s movie.
Jeff
Eric Stoltz seems to have lost his career due to being in a coma all too often.
I'm still wondering why JLo's bootie did not get an Oscar nod.
Stoltz has been directing a lot of television episodes in the last decade - including a dozen episodes of GLEE.
Jeff
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