Anaconda (film)

Anaconda

Snake eyes

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Luis Llosa
Produced by Verna Harrah
Carol Little
Leonard Rabinowitz
Written by Hans Bauer
Jim Cash
Jack Epps Jr.
Starring
Music by Randy Edelman
Cinematography Bill Butler
Edited by Michael R. Miller
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
 April 11, 1997 (1997-04-11)
Running time
 89 minutes
Country United States
Brazil
Language English
Portuguese
Budget $45 million
Box office $136,885,767

Anaconda is a 1997 adventure horror film by Peruvian director Luis Llosa, starring Jon Voight, Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, and Eric Stoltz. It centers on a documentary film crew who have been taken hostage by a snake hunter who is going after the legendary giant anaconda, which is discovered in the Amazon rainforest.

Despite receiving mostly negative reviews from critics, the film was a box-office hit and was followed by a series of sequels and a crossover film with the Lake Placid franchise.

Plot

While shooting a documentary about a long-lost Indian tribe, the Shirishamas, on the Amazon River, director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) and members of her crew—including cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), production manager Denise Kalberg (Kari Wuhrer), her boyfriend, sound engineer Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), visionary Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde), anthropologist Professor Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), and boat skipper Mateo (Vincent Castellanos)—come across stranded Paraguayan snake hunter Paul Sarone (Jon Voight) and help him, believing he knows how to find the tribe they are searching for.

Most of the crew are uncomfortable around Sarone, and Cale clashes with him several times in regards to Shirishama lore. Later, while trying to free the boat's propeller from a rope, Cale is stung in the throat by a wasp inside his scuba regulator, leaving him unconscious. 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 giant anaconda he had been tracking. At one night the Anaconda killed a jaguar.

Mateo is the first of the crew to be killed by the Anaconda, which coils around him and then breaks his neck near a boat where a poacher (Danny Trejo) had been killed, by shooting himself, at the beginning of the film. The photo in the newspaper revealed that Mateo, Sarone and the unnamed poacher were working together to catch animals, including snakes. The others try to find him while Gary sides with Sarone, who promises if they help him find the anaconda, he will help them get out alive. Later at night, the anaconda attacks the boat. When Sarone attempts to capture the snake, it crushes Gary, killing and eating him, leaving Denise devastated. The survivors overcome Sarone and tie him up. The next day, the boat becomes stuck at a waterfall, requiring Terri, Danny and Westridge entering the water to winch it loose. When Denise attempts to kill Sarone as revenge for Gary's death, he gets the edge and strangles her to death with his legs before dumping her body in the river. When the anaconda returns, Westridge distracts it long enough for Terri and Danny to return to the boat while he ascends the waterfall. Danny and the freed Sarone fight, as Westridge is coiled by the snake. Before it can kill him, the tree supporting the anaconda breaks, sending everyone into the water and waking up Cale. With Westridge killed in the fall, the snake coils itself around Danny, only to be shot in the head by Terri. An enraged Sarone attacks Terri, only to be stabbed with the tranquilizer dart by Cale, who soon loses consciousness again. Danny punches the drugged Sarone, knocking him into the river.

However, Terri and Danny are soon re-captured when Sarone catches up to them. He dumps a bucket of monkey blood on them and uses them as bait in an attempt to capture a second, larger anaconda. The Anaconda appears and coils around Terri and Danny and begins to suffocate them. They are caught in a net by Serone, but the snake breaks free. Sarone tries to escape, but the anaconda finally manages to coil around him and suffocate him. Terri and Danny cut their bonds and watch in horror as the anaconda slowly swallows Sarone whole. Terri finds a nest of baby anacondas in a building, but the snake arrives and, after regurgitating the still twitching Sarone, chases her up a smoke stack. Danny traps the Anaconda by pinning its tail to the ground with a pickaxe. Danny ignites a fire below the smoke shack and burns the snake alive. The burning anaconda is sent flying out of the building and plunges into the water where it sinks. As Terri and Danny recuperate on a nearby dock, the Anaconda appears one final time before Danny slams a splitting maul into the snake's head, killing it. Afterwards, Terri and Danny reunite with Cale, who begins to revive on the boat. As they float down the river, they accidentally locate the natives for whom they were originally searching. They realize Sarone was right and begin filming their documentary as the film ends.

Cast

Production

Gillian Anderson and Julianna Margulies were the first choices for the role of Terri Flores (whose last name was originally Porter), but they passed due to scheduling conflicts with both The X-Files and ER respectively before Jennifer Lopez signed on. Jean Reno was considered to play the part of Paul Sarone, until Jon Voight was cast. The filming took place in the mid-spring and summer 1996.

Reception

Anaconda received generally negative reviews upon its release. Some critics did praise the film's effects, scenery, and tongue-in-cheek humor, but many criticized the acting, "forgettable" or "cardboard" characters, inaccuracies, and "boring" start.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a "rotten" rating of 38%, based on 48 reviews.[1] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 37 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[2] Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film a mixed 2 out of a possible 4 stars, criticizing the film's "hoky" special effects,and "expositionless" script but complimented the film's use of Brazilian locale and Voights campy performance.[3]

Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars and called it a "...slick, scary, funny Creature Feature, beautifully photographed and splendidly acted in high adventure style. The love story between Voight & the snake brought me to tears several times."[4]

Despite the initial negative reception, Anaconda has since become a cult classic, often viewed as so-bad-it's-good. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.[5]

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for six Razzie Awards in 1998 including Worst Picture (which lost to The Postman), Worst Actor (Jon Voight; which went to Kevin Costner for The Postman), Worst Director (awarded to Costner for The Postman), Worst Screenplay (lost to The Postman), Worst New Star ("the animatronic anaconda"; which went to Dennis Rodman for Double Team) and Worst Screen Couple (Voight and "the animatronic anaconda"; where they lost to Rodman and Jean-Claude Van Damme for Double Team).[6] It was also nominated for two Saturn Awards including Best Actress (Jennifer Lopez; who lost to Jodie Foster for Contact) and Best Horror Film (which went to The Devil's Advocate).

Award Category Subject Results
Golden Raspberry Award Worst Picture Verna Harrah Nominated
Carole Little Nominated
Leonard Rabinowitz Nominated
Worst Director Luis Llosa Nominated
Worst Screenplay Hans Bauer Nominated
Jim Cash Nominated
Jack Epps Jr. Nominated
Worst Actor Jon Voight Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Nominated
The animatronic anaconda Nominated
Worst New Star Nominated
Saturn Award Best Actress Jennifer Lopez Nominated
Best Horror or Thriller Film Nominated

Box office

The film opened at #1 with $16.6 million in its first weekend [7] and remained at the top spot in its following week.[8] In total, Anaconda went on to gross $136.8 million worldwide,[9] making it a sizable box office success more than recouping its $45 million budget.

Sequels and crossover

The film was followed by three sequels, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid in 2004, which was released to theaters and two made-for-television films, Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008) and Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009) and the crossover film with the Lake Placid franchise, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015).

Even though no characters from the first film appear in the sequels, in the second film they are referenced by the character Cole, when he says he knows a man (Westridge) and the other man (Danny) that took a crew down to the Amazon and they were all eaten by the snakes. Also, the Blood Orchid introduced in the second film is mentioned from the later films and appears in the fourth film.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Anaconda". Rotten Tomatoes
  2. ↑ "Anaconda". metacritic
  3. ↑ Leonard Maltin (2 September 2014). "Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide". Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-698-18361-2.
  4. ↑ Ebert, Roger (April 11, 1997). "Anaconda". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  5. ↑ Wilson, John (2005). "The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst". Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
  6. ↑ "Razzie Award (1998)". imdb
  7. ↑ "Weekend Chart 1". boxofficemojo
  8. ↑ "Weekend Chart 2". boxofficemojo
  9. ↑ "Anaconda". boxofficemojo

External links

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