ANACONDA
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.5 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 4/11/97 (wide) Running Length: 1:30 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson, Jonathan Hyde, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos Director: Luis Llosa Producers: Verna Harrah, Carole Little, Leonard Rabinowitz Screenplay: Hans Bauer and Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. Cinematography: Bill Butler Music: Randy Edelman U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures
When I was a kid, I used to love monster movies of all kinds: FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, KING KONG... The list went on and on. Had I seen ANACONDA when I was 9 or 10, or even 13 or 14, I probably would have enjoyed it. Since then, however, my standards have changed, and motion pictures like this one don't look nearly as good. I still appreciate FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, and KING KONG (all of which have characters, solid plots, and style), but the bared fangs and crushed bodies of ANACONDA are no longer sufficient.
The relatively thin plot centers around a documentary film crew venturing deep into the Amazon to make a movie about the discovery of a lost tribe. Dr. Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), a cultural anthropologist, is heading up the expedition. First-time director Terri Florez (Jennifer Lopez), Cale's girlfriend, leads the film crew. Also on the trip are Danny (Ice Cube), the cinematographer; Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde), the snooty British narrator; Gary (Owen Wilson), the sound man; and Denise (Kari Wuhrer), the production manager. Along the way, they rescue the mysterious and sinister Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), a snake catcher who is after the most lucrative capture of his life.
Much of the first half of ANACONDA is devoted to building tension between the human characters as Sarone makes it apparent that he's less interested in helping the film crew than in pursuing his own ends. By the time the serpent -- a forty foot monster capable of (and willing to) swallow a human whole -- makes its first significant appearance, it's anti-climactic. The rest of the movie details the surviving humans' attempts to escape from the snake while avoiding Sarone's traps.
ANACONDA is trying to be a JAWS for the '90s, but, like last year's THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, it falls short in several key areas. The biggest flaw can be summed up in a short phrase: lack of excitement. Thrillers are supposed to be crammed with thrills (hence the name), but ANACONDA is relatively barren of them. Movies like ALIEN, THE TERMINATOR, and JAWS get the blood pounding and adrenaline pumping; ANACONDA is unable to accomplish this.
Why? The first reason has to do with character development. The men and women populating ANACONDA are uninteresting types. Despite all the time devoted to interpersonal interaction at the beginning of the film, we learn very little about these people beyond certain basic facts: their names, their jobs, and who they're sleeping with. Such obligatory, wooden personalities are incapable of exciting our imagination or our sympathy. By the time the carnage starts, we're strangely detached from the would-be heroes.
Another serious problem is that the snake doesn't make an especially good monster. It doesn't have much of a personality, doesn't appear particularly clever or calculating, and isn't really all that menacing (it can get killed by a shotgun). On top of that, it looks like a special effect, and sometimes a rather cheesy one. The animatronic anaconda is okay, but the digitally composed version looks exactly like what it is: computer generated.
Many of the actors appear to be on hand mostly to collect a paycheck. Jennifer Lopez, who was so impressive in SELENA, dutifully plods through her role here without exhibiting any real spark or energy. Eric Stoltz and Ice Tea quickly fade into the background, where they're all-but-forgotten by the script. Jonathan Hyde (the big game hunter from JUMANJI) provides a little comic relief, but nothing on the order of Bill Paxton's contribution to ALIENS. The only one guilty of sinking his teeth into his part is Jon Voight, who develops Sarone into a creepy, charismatic figure. It's not a landmark performance, but it is one of ANACONDA's redeeming features.
Director Louis Llosa (THE SPECIALIST) doesn't seem well suited to direct this sort of movie. For too long, he's more interested in the DEAD CALM-like situation on the movie makers' boat than in what's lurking out in the jungle. The snake is not effectively mythologized, and its first appearance occurs without much fanfare. The picture has a solid enough premise for a monster movie; the film makers just didn't do a very good job converting it to the screen. As a result, while ANACONDA offers a few momentary jolts and a rash of goosebumps for ophidiophobics, it never comes close to taking your breath away.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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