TL;DR – This is a wildly silly and meta film that holds back when it should dive all the way in.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to view this film.

Anaconda Review Introduction –

Today, we are looking at a film that sold itself to me by its bonkers premise alone: what if the sequel to 1997’s Anaconda was a meta reboot about a group of filmmakers trying to film a sequel to 1997’s Anaconda. It is a premise so profoundly silly that you must see just how they pull it off, and the answer is very meta indeed.

So, to set the scene, Ronald “Griff” Griffen Jr. (Paul Rudd) is a background actor in Hollywood whose only notable role was a four-episode stint on S.W.A.T. Well, after another failed audition, he sees a poster for the 1997 film Anaconda and gets an idea. He returns home to Buffalo, New York, to inform his friends that he has secured the rights to the Anaconda franchise so they can make one of the films they used to make when they were kids. It is a profoundly silly idea, but soon wedding videographer Doug McCallister (Jack Black), recently divorced lawyer Claire Simons (Thandiwe Newton), and now Buffalo sober Kenny Trent (Steve Zahn) find themselves in Manaus, Brazil, looking at snake handler Carlos Santiago Braga (Selton Mello) and his pet anaconda. They take a boat deep into the jungle to start filming, but little do they know that when filming Anaconda, there may be an anaconda hunting them.      

Production

From a production perspective, we get an excellent film. The design and application of the snake is what you need in a movie like this, less Anaconda and more Titanoboa, if you ignore that a whole human would probably be enough food for a while, rather than the carnage we get here. It hits that part of your brain that is afraid of snakes, even digitally created ones that sit and wait and strike when you least expect it. They make good use of practical sets, with that riverboat being so lovely that I would straight up live there if I could. The music worked well and fit the vibes they were going for. While the pacing does get a touch long-in-the-tooth in places, it tends to bounce back quickly when the action starts. There is also a point where I can’t tell if they were wading through the swamp or in a tank, but it looked cool.

Cast

One of the best things about this film is its cast, who absolutely know what sort of film they are in and how best to make it shine. You do have to pretend that Paul Rudd is apparently a bad actor in this work, but we can let that wildly fanciful plot point aside. Jack Black brings his usual chaotic energy that you need here, and also some absolute conviction that makes the ending land better than it should have. Thandiwe Newton is the grounding presence in the film, and something it desperately needs, especially when Steve Zahn goes full-goblin mode in places. Also, shout out to Selton Mello, who might have the wackiest part in the film [and that is saying something] and knocks it out of the park.         

Meta Set-up

A film like this only works if everyone is willing to go to the extremes needed to pull it off, and one of those ways is how meta you are prepared to get. On that front, not nearly as meta as The Matrix Resurrections or The Naked Gun, the two films that have the tone they were aiming for. There is a fundamental absurdity that is baked into every moment, and the film dips into that in places for some surreal moments, including the most elaborate wound care sequence in cinema. There were only two genuine laughs in the movie, and that is when they committed entirely to the bit, but the rest of the film, you can feel an almost palpable reticence to take it as far as it could go. That safety probably made it a more coherent film, but not a more interesting one.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Anaconda? Look, this is a very ‘me’ film, and even I found it a bit much at times. However, when the silliness hits where it should, it becomes a delight to watch. But if you are not me, or if you don’t enjoy films that take a large meta swerve, then I am not sure there is much here for you.

Have you watched Anaconda? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Anaconda, we would recommend Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves to you because it also is a profoundly silly film that completely understands the premise that it is working in.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Anaconda
Directed by – Tom Gormican
Screenplay by – Tom Gormican & Kevin Etten
Based on – Anaconda by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.
Music by – David Fleming
Cinematography by – Nigel Bluck
Edited by – Craig Alpert & Gregory Plotkin
Production/Distribution Companies – Columbia Pictures, Fully Formed Entertainment & Sony Pictures Releasing
Starring – Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello, Ione Skye, Ben Lawson, Rui Ricardo Diaz & John Billingsley
With – Ice Cube & Jennifer Lopez     
Rating  – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13