This wants to be Jaws (1975) in style and tension but falls woefully short due to the dumb script, inept direction and inconsistent blending of poor CGI and physical effects of the anaconda that never quite convinces. The opening scene with Danny Trejo is promising but as he gets dispensed with early on it's all downhill from there.
Director Luis Llosa is no Spielberg however Anaconda does have it's moments of gore and thrills which moves at a fast pace but Llosa fails to build adequate tension and characterisation for this to work as well as it could have. Jon Voight seems to be relishing his role as the unscrupulous hunter bent on capturing the largest snake in the Amazon with his over the top performance but because of the lack of characterisation we don't really care who gets bitten, crushed or eaten alive despite an appealing cast of now well known actors Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Eric Stoltz.
That said it's a fun, action packed monster B-movie that doesn't take itself too seriously with hokey effects and stereotypical characters being part of it's charm. A similar creature feature Lake Placid (1999) is done a lot better in my opinion but stays in the realm of the B movie.
Director Luis Llosa is no Spielberg however Anaconda does have it's moments of gore and thrills which moves at a fast pace but Llosa fails to build adequate tension and characterisation for this to work as well as it could have. Jon Voight seems to be relishing his role as the unscrupulous hunter bent on capturing the largest snake in the Amazon with his over the top performance but because of the lack of characterisation we don't really care who gets bitten, crushed or eaten alive despite an appealing cast of now well known actors Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Eric Stoltz.
That said it's a fun, action packed monster B-movie that doesn't take itself too seriously with hokey effects and stereotypical characters being part of it's charm. A similar creature feature Lake Placid (1999) is done a lot better in my opinion but stays in the realm of the B movie.