‘Anaconda’ – Review
Jack Black and Paul Rudd are more than ready to go native, plunging headfirst into the jungle for Anaconda: a wild, unhinged, and gloriously self-aware remake-of-a-remake that fully embraces its own stupidity. Loud, ridiculous, and relentlessly entertaining, this is exactly the kind of sunburnt, beer-in-hand summer blockbuster chaos audiences could use right about now.
Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) have been best friends since they were kids, and have always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie: the cinematic “classic” Anaconda. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep into the Amazon to start filming. But things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation. The movie they’re dying to make? It might just get them killed……
Reimagining the infamously “so-bad-it’s-good” 1997 cult creature feature, Anaconda leans hard into meta comedy. Rudd stars as Ronald “Griff” Griffen Jr., a hapless wannabe actor still chasing relevance, while Black plays Doug McCallister, a washed-up filmmaker reduced to shooting daytime wedding videos and clinging desperately to his glory days. Together, the two best friends hatch a truly terrible idea: head into the jungle to make an indie, found-footage horror remake of Anaconda itself.
What could possibly go wrong?
Joining their doomed expedition are corporate lawyer and former actress (and Griff’s long-lost crush) Claire Simons (Thandiwe Newton), and substance-abusing, lovable disaster Kenny Trent (Steve Zahn). From there, the film gleefully spirals into madness—murderous smugglers, brutal jungle terrain, collapsing egos, the harsh realities of “production,” and, of course, one freakishly massive, extremely hungry snake. The result is a perfectly calibrated holiday comedy blockbuster that keeps the laughs coming while gleefully torching any remaining sense of dignity.
Director Tom Gormican finds a confident rhythm here, delivering a film that doubles as both a love letter to the original Anaconda and a celebration of the inner fanboy obsession with nostalgic trash cinema. The comedy is broad, shameless, and aggressively stupid; in the best possible way. This is big, dumb fun with its foot jammed firmly on the accelerator, and it never once pretends to be anything else.
The chemistry between Black, Rudd, Newton, and Zahn is spot-on. You can feel how much fun they’re having, and that infectious energy carries the entire film. Black goes full unhinged goblin mode, Rudd plays the straight-man-in-denial to perfection, Zahn steals scenes with chaotic abandon, and Newton grounds the madness just enough to keep it all from collapsing.
Best of all, Anaconda is a film best experienced going in cold. The shocks, surprises, and escalating absurdity hit harder when you let its heavy-metal insanity wash over you. The final showdown: featuring one BIG ASS SNAKE and a whole lot of chomp-chomp carnage will have audiences hooting, hollering, and shifting excitedly in their seats.
Anaconda knows exactly what it is: goofy, shocking, expansive, and unapologetically ridiculous. It won’t cure your fear of snakes, but it will absolutely deliver one hell of a laugh. A cracking good time, plain and simple.
Image: Sony Pictures
