ANACONDA (4K UHD Blu-ray Steelbook Review)
The 1997 Anaconda was never high art; it’s a glossy jungle potboiler with a ridiculous premise, an all star cast, and a giant snake large enough to swallow common sense. Audiences of a certain age have kept it alive, remembering Jon Voight chewing the scenery and Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube trying to keep straight faces amidst the delirious camp. Anaconda’s nonsense has miraculously curdled into affection. Anaconda 2025 understands at least that much, and does what it can to spin memory into comedy.
Film ★★☆☆☆☆
Anaconda has a clever enough hook. Doug McCallister (Jack Black), once an aspiring horror auteur, now shoots wedding videos in Buffalo and dresses them up with cinematic flourishes no bride or groom asked for. His old friend Griff (Paul Rudd) went west in pursuit of stardom but has found himself empty handed.
When Griff returns for Doug’s birthday and revives the homemade monster movie they made as kids, the ol spark comes flooding back. Soon Doug, Griff, Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) are persuaded to head for the Amazon and make their own version of Anaconda on a pitiful budget, with Doug directing, Griff starring, Kenny shooting, and Claire joining the cast.
They enlist the eccentric snake handler Santiago Braga (Selton Mello), cross paths with the enigmatic Ana Almeida (Daniela Melchior), and discover that the jungle has supplied them with an unexpected production value: a real giant anaconda, who takes it upon itself to hunt the crew.
For a while, Anaconda has a shambling appeal. Early Buffalo scenes provide a lively setup. Doug pitching horror flavored wedding footage to unimpressed clients is one of the film’s biggest laughs.
The birthday party reunion has heart to it, as we see these middle aged strivers look at the crude movie they made as kids. The filmmakers of Anaconda do a successful job showing the longing these friends have, which makes the absurdity of their plan somehow believable.
Once the story moves to the Amazon, the movie becomes broader and sloppier, piling on a snake attack, a local crime subplot, and assorted jungle humiliations. Some of it is funny. The argument over who must urinate on Doug after an insect sting is a cheap laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.
Doug running with dead animal bait strapped to his back has commitment to make this idiotic visual work.
But too often the action feels like obligation without any real escalation, and the snake itself is less a presence than a recurring effect.
Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, who previously showed a nimble hand with meta comedy with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, have a promising target here in Hollywood’s obsession with recycling titles.
Anaconda’s satire is oddly gentler than it ought to be, and the movie never decides whether it wants to mock the culture of remakes or join it proudly. It loses nerve when it comes time to draw blood, whether it be comic or dramatic.
The cast nearly rescues it by force of personality. Black gives Doug the presence of a grand, wounded foolish man. Rudd is very good at the soft vanity of Griff, although by now it’s a role he can play in his sleep. Zahn steals scenes through absentminded confidence. Newton brings intelligence and steadiness to Claire, though the film gives her less to do than it should.
Mello as Santiago is the MVP, tearing through scenes with oddball energy that gives the movie its needed jolt.
Anaconda is neither the inspired folly it might have been nor the disaster it sometimes threatens to become. It’s a fitfully entertaining comedy about people trying to recapture their youth by remaking a bad movie they loved.
Video ★★★★☆
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Clarity/Detail: Sony’s 2160p Dolby Vision presentation has a consistently high bitrate that supports a clean, stable image free of compression issues. Fine textures in foliage, skin, and production design resolve with impressive precision, while contrast is more disciplined, giving the image a polished, theater-like finish without artificial sharpening.
Depth: There’s a convincing sense of dimensional layering throughout, particularly in jungle exteriors where foreground vegetation and distant backgrounds are clearly separated. Atmospherics like mist, humidity, and environmental density feel tangible, giving the image a more immersive, three-dimensional quality.
Black Levels: Shadows and deeper moments are nicely controlled, with delineation in darker scenes that avoids the muddiness often associated with jungle-set films. The presentation maintains stability and preserves detail in low-light environments without distracting crush.
Color Reproduction: The color grading presents a palette that leans into natural greens, earth tones, and subdued highlights. Dolby Vision enhances select elements with vibrancy, allowing sunlight, water reflections, and environmental hues to stand out.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones appear balanced and lifelike, even in challenging lighting conditions. Close-ups reveal fine detail and texture, including sweat, dirt, and wear.
Noise/Artifacts: The encode is exceptionally clean.
Audio ★★★★☆
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos; English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French (Canada) DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Audio descriptive
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Dynamics: The Dolby Atmos track delivers a wide dynamic envelope that takes full advantage of a 7.2.2 setup, balancing environmental detail with sudden bursts of aggressive energy. Transients like gunfire, impacts, and creature attacks hit with nice, controlled force. Quieter moments like the film crew walking through the jungle retain clarity and spatial nuance.
Height: Overhead channels are used with intent, extending the vertical space with rainforest ambience, rainfall, and select directional cues. A highlight is the end cart chase sequence where the snake chases the crew as the set is exploding all around.
Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel provides a solid foundation, giving weight to the serpent’s movements and reinforcing action beats with tight, controlled bass. There’s a shootout close to the hour mark that really gets the subwoofer working.
Surround Sound Presentation: The mix engages the side and rear channels, creating a continuous soundfield where environmental effects and action elements move with precision. Spatial imaging is highly accurate, allowing discrete sounds to travel naturally across the room.
Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are anchored firmly in the center channel, cutting cleanly through music and high-intensity effects without requiring you to turn up the volume.
Extras ★★☆☆☆☆
The Steelbook packaging is uninspired, placing Griff and Doug shoulder to shoulder, a panicked warthog at their feet, and the looming serpent coiled above them against a dense jungle setting. Flip it over and the composition widens to include the core group in full retreat with the creature closing in, while the inside artwork goes for a more aggressive angle with a lunging, open-mouthed strike.
It’s a dull presentation that I can’t imagine will excite any fan. The features are brief, promotional featurettes which fail to add any substance to the film.
- A Ride Into Chaos with Jack & Paul (5:18)
- Hiss-terical Outtakes & Bloopers (3:10)
- Friends in the Wild: The Cast (5:49)
- The Snake Charmer: Tom Gormican (4:41)
- Reinventing the Legend: Anaconda (4:33)
- Deleted & Extended Scenes (4 clips, 4:31 total)
Summary ★★☆☆☆☆
The trouble is that the original, for all its absurdity, had the courage of its own bad taste. This one is more self aware, more careful, and finally less fun.
