Main Cast: Don La Fontaine, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A group of filmmakers looking for a lost native tribe instead find a man-eating monster in this thriller. Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is a documentary filmmaker on assignment to make a film about the Shirishama Indians of the Amazon, a mysterious tribe known as "the People of the Mists." As Terri and her crew -- cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), sound recordist Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), anthropologist Steve Cale (Eric Stoltz), production manager Denise Kahlberg (Kari Wuhrer), and host Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde) -- head down the river, they discover a man whose boat has sunk and desperately needs rescue. Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), the mysterious stranger that they save from the waters, claims to know something of the Shirishama and says he will take the crew to them. Instead, he guides the group to the hiding place of the fearsome Anaconda, a gigantic snake that swallows a man whole, vomits him up, and eats him again (no small accomplishment, that). The snake is worth a fortune if captured, but can a creature so dangerous be captured at all? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
A triple helping of cinematic cheese is what this delightfully tongue-in-cheek horror outing sets out to be and it succeeds handsomely. Among the film's many delights are laughable dialogue, characters out of the Aaron Spelling school of drama, and the frequent usage of the sudden, cheap shock school of thrills (so many objects leap out at viewers unexpectedly, one would think the picture was filmed in 3D). All of these elements keep the film's energy up as the body count predictably mounts, but the best parts of this opus of B-movie cliché and blunder are the snake and actor Jon Voight in the heavy role. The anaconda itself is a supernaturally gifted critter with the ability to swallow a man whole, yet still maintain the fitness to move at the speed of lightning. Stalking its prey, the titular zoological specimen pinwheels back and forth in looks from a computer-generated Loch Ness Monster-looking beastie to a Muppet-style length of what seems to be stuffed elephant trunk. Any zoo in the world would be lucky to have it. Then there's Voight in a winking, ironically detached performance as a Great White Hunter with a marble-mouthed accent. Voight knows how bad the script is here and just sinks his fangs into a juicy, unrepentantly sleazy, horny, greedy character. It's all on the surface, sure, but it's his most fully awake, alive, and energetic performance in decades, sadly spent in the service of a total piece of junk that at least has the good sense to know what it is. Anaconda is trash, but it's darn fun trash. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Barry Chausid - Art Director, Mindy Marin - Casting, Beau Marks - Co-producer, Robert Carneioro - Costume Designer, K.C. Colwell - First Assistant Director, Luis Llosa - Director, Michael R. Miller - Editor, Susan Ruskin - Executive Producer, Randy Edelman - Composer (Music Score), Kirk M. Petruccelli - Production Designer, Bill Butler - Cinematographer, Carole Little - Producer, Leonard Rabinowitz - Producer, Verna Harrah - Producer, John Nelson - Special Effects, Walt Conti - Special Effects, Douglas B. Arnold - Sound/Sound Designer, Charlie Picerni - Stunts, Jim Cash - Screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr. - Screenwriter, Hans Bauer - Screenwriter
Shooting a documentary about a long-lost Indian tribe on the Amazon River, director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) and members of her crew, including cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), production manager Denise Xalberg (Kari Wuhrer), soundman Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), visionary Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde) and anthropologist Professor Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), come across stranded Paraguay snake hunter Paul Sarone (Jon Voight) and help him, believing he knows how to find the tribe they're searching for, but Sarone acts strangely and the crew suspect something. While trying to free the boat's propeller from a rope, Cale is stung in the throat by a wasp which somehow got in his scuba gear (this leaves him unconscious for nearly the rest of the film). With that, Sarone takes command of the boat... and the crew. They are then forced to help him achieve his true objective; hunting down and capturing a record-breaking Green Anaconda he had been tracking. During the process, several members of the crew are killed before the snake itself is shot dead and Sarone incapacitated by the newly awakened Cale. Later on, Terri and Danny, two of the surviving members of the crew, are captured when Sarone catches up to them. He dumps a bucket of monkey blood on them and then uses them as bait in an attempt to capture a second, larger Anaconda. The anaconda wraps around Terri and Danny and begins to squeeze the life out of Terri. The snake still squeezing Terri and Danny are caught in a net by Sarone, but escape when the snake breaks free. Terri and Danny cut their bonds and break free as Sarone himself is killed by his quarry. The snake becomes trapped in the smoke stack, which Danny ignites and it seems to have died. As Terri and Danny recuperate on a nearby dock, the snake appears one final time. Danny beats the anaconda with an axe until it is finally slain. Afterwards, the survivors of the expedition reunite on the ship, and as they float down the river, accidentally locate the natives they were originally searching for. They realize Sarone was right and begin filming their documentary as the movie ends.
The film received negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received 24% positive reviews, based on 29 reviews.[1]Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 20 reviews.[2] Although not being well received, the film had an average box office performance.
One of the few positive reviews was by Roger Ebert, who gave it three and a half out of four stars, calling it "a slick, scary, funny Creature Feature, beautifully photographed and splendidly acted in high adventure style."[3]
