Anaconda: Blu-ray Review
A documentary film crew headed by anthropologist Steve Cale (Eric Stoltz) and director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) travel down the Amazon River in search of a mysterious Indian tribe. On their journey they save a man, Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), from a sinking boat. He offers to help in their search for the tribe, but he is actually a snake-hunter looking for the legendary Anaconda snake. When an accident leaves Cale unconcious, Sarone takes charge of the boat, leaving the rest of the crew in grave danger.
I remember seeing this film at the theater back in 1997. I think since then I may have seen it in passing a handful of times on cable so when I was actually looking forward to sitting down and watching this from beginning to end again. I have to say……It still holds up pretty good! It’s a nice thriller that I found still freaked me out a bit. I have a thing about being in dark water and there was tons of those moments in this film. I mean honestly just that fact that people are trekking into the Amazon is a bit risky because I’m sure there are “river monsters” out there that people have never seen before. The story is a pretty solid one that is farfetched but still intense and scary. I think that the film still works because of the use of animatronics and less CG. I’ve always loved seeing good practical effects being used rather than computer generated imagery just because of the evolution of CG is ALWAYS changing and improving but good practical effects can withstand the test of time for the most part. The other thing that kind of surprised me was the lineup of the film. I had completely forgotten that Owen Wilson and Danny Trejo were in the film but it’s seeing Stoltz, Lopez, Ice Cube and Voight on screen that was pretty cool. I’m by no means saying that the acting in the fillm was A+ quality but it’s still really entertaining. The ONLY bad thing about this release is the lack of special features on the disc but it isn’t a huge loss. If you haven’t seen this film in a long time and haven’t picked it up then I suggest you do so now with this bare bones release of Anaconda.
