Anaconda

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight
Directed by: Luis Llosa
Released: Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1997

The best that any of the actors involved in this one can hope is that no one remembers they were involved. Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube head up a documentary crew that descends into the Amazon to film an indigenous culture; they get sidetracked for ninety minutes dealing with a spooky snake hunter and the title's digitally-rendered serpents. Jon Voight, as the villain in question, is as oily as ever, but the script (bad) and the special effects (even worse) were what sunk this one. There is some tension involved, but it's all rather silly and artificial, and while Lopez and Ice Cube are perhaps the best singers-turned-actors, such a distinction should not be enough cause for anyone to want to watch this. The PG-13 rating and comic book violence hint at just who the target audience really is.