ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID

A scientific expedition, commissioned by a pharmaceutical company, sets off to Borneo to find a very rare specimen of orchid, said to bloom only once every seven years and that holds the secret of eternal life by prolonging cell life. Upon arrival, the expedition members will make an unpleasant discovery: the forests of Borneo are populated by giant and voracious anacondas ready to devour anyone in their path. In 1997, under the direction of Luis Llosa, the film Anaconda is released in theaters, another film in which a group of people becomes prey to a much larger and fiercer animal than normal; seven years later, in 2004, the sequel, Anaconda  Hunt for the Orchid, is released in theaters, a film that, although it does not reach the results of the first film (certainly one of the best films made on the theme of giant snakes), still manages to entertain and captivate the viewer for about an hour and a half. The film relies on a story that cannot certainly be considered innovative and original, but rather appears to be a pretext to get a herd of idiots (this time less idiotic than usual) into the clutches of dangerous snakes positioned at the top of the food chain. The screenplay appears very solid and well constructed and balances well the pace of the film that, although it does not immediately get to the heart of the situation (about forty minutes pass before any snake appears on screen), avoids creating too flat scenes that could distract the viewers attention from the story narrated in the film. The direction, entrusted to Dwight Little (The Phantom of the Opera (1989), Halloween 4) does not disappoint and demonstrates sufficient familiarity with the genre. As for the cast, this time it was decided to take little-known actors, unlike the first film, in which there was an excellent Jon Voight as the greedy evil hunter, the famous pop singer Jennifer Lopez as the protagonist destined to resolve the situation, and an Ice Cube at the beginning of his phenomenal career as an inexpressive actor in the role of the cinematographic crews cameraman. Here, instead, among the most famous faces are Johnny Messner (Last Light) as the hero, KaDee Strickland (The Grudge) and Morris Chestnut (Station 19, Soldier Jane); but despite the casts lack of professionalism, all the actors manage without problems to perfectly embody their character. As for the monster of the moment, the anaconda, it must be said that this film represents one of the few cases in which an original motivation is given to explain the enormous size of the animals (usually in films, either no explanations are given or genetic modifications are resorted to); here, instead, the anacondas appear to be of considerable size because they feed precisely on the orchid in question and, being animals subjected to continuous growth until death, made immortal by the orchid, have reached an excessively large size. What brings this film down, however, are the anacondas created with a completely insufficient digital effect, to the point of envying the creation of the anacondas in the first film made seven years earlier. Finally, the film is filled with various nonsense about the anacondas that could have been easily avoided: first, the film takes place in the lands of Borneo, a completely foreign area for this type of snake since the anaconda lives only in tropical America; the second nonsense concerns the aesthetic rendering of the snakes that, perhaps to instill more fear, have a mouth equipped with large sharp teeth….but anacondas do not have teeth (will this perhaps be another change caused by the orchid?). In conclusion, Anaconda  Hunt for the Orchid is a more than sufficient film, fun, thrilling, and engaging but whose only real flaw is the poor realization of the special effects.