Anaconda 1997 Review

As if real, large snakes were frightening enough, now there are sets of movies about giant snakes that have a hunger for human flesh, in a seemingly unnatural way. It wasn’t enough that the movies series Jaws scared people out of the water for years, but now viewers have new creatures to worry about eating them. Ask most people about their feelings when it comes to snakes and a person’s face alone can tell of their disgust or fear of the serpent creatures. And after this movie’s release, people like snakes even less. It did not help the all-ready fearful image of the snake, especially the monster snake known as Anaconda ( http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800282126/info ). As many people have never even seen an Anaconda real and full of life before, one can be seen at the National Zoo in Washington DC. For a creature of that size, it was a small tank or at least looked small compared to the creature’s length and width, which gives a visitor the feeling of the creature’s true presence that could sneak up on an unsuspecting adventurer in the Wilds. For many people, the Anaconda snake from the film, becomes quite real when the snake itself is viewed with only a piece of glass separating them.

While the real snake can be very frightening in person, the movie Anaconda quickly lost its frightening sense of danger as the movie went on. On closer observation, it is quite clear to see the, in lack of a better word, fake aspects of the robot snake that was used in the film. From different points of view and different angles shot of the snake, it becomes clearer and clearer that meeting this particular robot snake in the wild might not be as frightening as the real thing. Even if the disappointment is there for the fake of the snake itself, it is almost impossible to completely train a snake to do everything that was done in the film, so the viewers are forced to make do with what they have. In danger of pointing out what everyone can see, the differences between the real snake viewed at the National Zoo and the fake snake from the film are so obvious even from an untrained eye. Not even to mention how different the fake snake and the CGI snake were.

When the original poster was viewed for the first time, one can only think of a single word. ALIEN from 1979. And it has nothing to do with the monster involved in the film. It was the catch line that was used on the poster that only makes one think, did they really need to copy Alien’s example? The Alien catch line was ‘In space, no can hear you scream’, while Anaconda’s was ‘When you can’t breathe, you can’t scream.’ Glaringly obvious that the same pattern was used from the Alien catch line and with none of the success that the Alien movie celebrated. When the poster is the first thing viewed about the movie, such an example of unoriginal creativity is a slight turn off. Could make a person wonder what else did they copy from another film? Could this film really be enjoyable?

In all fairness, the question needs to be asked. How was this film thought of a blockbuster movie? How can this film with a storyline that went absolutely nowhere fast, be thought of a successful film? The movie was enjoyable enough to view it every now and then, but that does in no way make this a blockbuster film. Maybe the supposed success is because of the actors J-Lo and Ice Cube and what they’re names bring to the title. While Ice Cube’s acting skills and movies have been enjoyable, J-Lo’s acting talents are null and void. They don’t exist, so there is a question about what she actually brought to this film expect for an attractive actress with supposed talent.

Perhaps one of the few things that made Anaconda memorable with certain viewers is the aspect of what people from groups like National Geographic, Discovery Channel, etc have to do to get the pictures and movies that wow audiences all over the world. How they travel to these area of the planet that are still untamed by civilization and have sometimes dangerous difficulties to face while collecting their finds. The dangers don’t normally include giant snakes mind you, but there are difficulties still and it makes a person respect what they do for science.

This movie has action, a monster, and suspense. Is it worth the hour or so time spent to watch it? Not at all.