Anaconda

Remember that ’90s killer snake joint with J-Lo, John Voight and Ice Cube? Yeah, that one. Well, there’s a revamp out this Christmas, and it’s pretty zany.

Anaconda, when it came out in 1997, took itself pretty seriously, and that’s ok; it was an action film that fit right into the action film catalogue, with stars like Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, DMX, and other 90s heavyweights in the film and music world.

This time around, we get something very self-aware and tongue-in-cheek – something that pays homage to the over-the-top giant snake horror adventure film that we all flocked to the theatres to see.

Doug (Jack Black) is a wedding videographer, working at his dad’s business. Griff (Paul Rudd) is a hopeful actor who can’t get a break. The two men have been friends since childhood, along with Claire and Kenny (Thandiwe Newton and Steve Zahn). When the four get together to celebrate Doug’s birthday, they talk about their dream of remaking Anaconda – their all-time favourite film – after revisiting their grade school attempt at an action movie. When Griff says he has the rights to Anaconda, they decide to take the plunge and recreate the 90s horror-adventure film. With very little money to invest but tons of heart and a script fresh from Doug’s mind, they head off to the Amazon to realize their cinematic dreams. But deep in the Amazonian jungle lies some bad dudes and a really, really big snake.  Of course, with this cast, insanity ensues, and there’s a lot at stake when snakes collide.

The question of reboots and reimaginings is raised when we see IPs like this emerge. Do we really need them? My answer is always no, especially when studios with tons of money can allot budgets to smaller, more interesting indie films. I think back to American Fiction’s writer-director Cord Jefferson, who, in his Oscar acceptance speech, implored the studios to invest in several $4 million films by emerging filmmakers (from all walks of life and ages) instead of betting it all on a $200 million film. And I agree, but if you’re going to reboot something, at least cast some real charmers, and we get that here with the winning combo of Black and Rudd. There was a battle of eye acting with Jack Black’s maniacal comedic spark and Rudd’s slightly devilish boy-next-door twinkle. Zahn reprises his signature goofy sidekick role well, employing all the silly tropes he’s perfected over the years.

It was nice to see Newton doing something fun, too. She’s usually taking on very serious or action-oriented roles, but here, she’s the sweet friend of three crazy dudes ready to go along for the ride. I did scratch my head over the weird, photoshopped picture of her for the promotional material. I wondered who it was! And there’s a pig gag that I’m not sure landed well since it could be read as fat-phobic, but that’s just my interpretation.

Anaconda isn’t the worst thing you could see for the holiday season, and at six days in theatres, it’s made $46 million globally, surpassing the $45 million budget, so it’s performing decently. The director, Tom Gormican, who helmed the genius meta Nic Cage comedy, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, sticks to some safer ground here with lots of silly charm, one wild set piece after another, cheesy snake effects and something that actually makes you giggle occasionally in these trying times.