Anaconda 3: Offspring

I was taken by surprise when I saw Anaconda 3 in the tv listings as I had not heard of its being made. When I saw that it was to be making a Sc-Fi Channel debut, I knew to prepare for the worst. I suppose that the producers wanted to cash in on whatever brand value "Anaconda" has left as Sci-Fi has seen several movies with similar production values with Python, Python II , Boa, Boa vs. Python, Cobra vs Komodo, etcetera and could have just churned out another in its own misbegotten line. The other 2 Anaconda movies actually saw theatrical release, so obviously they have the look and feel of a "real" Hollywood movie. Anaconda 3 on the other hand, looks and feels cheap. Neither of the Anaconda predecessors were any Citizen Kane, but when you take the money out of them you get typical Sci-Fi Channel Movie of the week fare. Typical for the Sci-Fi channel is just plain bad.

ANACONDA 3
THE OFFSPRING

Remember when J-Lo, Jon Voight and Ice Cube were battling a giant Anaconda, or when another group led by a J-Lo look a like did the same thing but against more, yeah those were the days. Well it seems that those days of a big budget [at least compared to this] theatrical released Anaconda movie are gone. But being that I am a fan of any and everything low budget I decided that I would give this a try, I bought it in order to have the whole collection. But that aside I still went into this knowing that it was a Sci-Fi Channel movie, so I knew it was probably not a classic.

I try to stay positive in most of my reviews because I know how much work went it these types of things but it is hard to get past the look of this film. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a low budget movie but compared to the first two it is hard to ignore. I would say that this looks a lot like "Lake Placid 2" so if you have seen that film you know what I am talking about, although that film may look better than this one. Another thing that gets me is the look of the snakes, I know this is a low budget film but the snakes from "Python" and "Boa" look better then these. On the plus side for a film like this it was shot pretty well thanks to Don E. FauntLeRoy that may be one of the few pluses to how the film looks.

I hate to say things like this but another thing that drags this film down a little is the script by David C. Olson and Nicholas Davidoff. It may not be the worst thing ever written but it still has its flaws, the story line in particular seems like every other creature running amuck type flick. The film is about a secret laboratory [can you see where this is going?] were tests are being done on over sized snakes, in fact it is the test drug that is making the snakes so big apparently. Well as if you did not know the snakes break loose and are out and about looking for some food. In comes the "professionals" that are called in to take care of this little problem. I know what you are thinking it sounds a lot like every other b creature feature, well you are right. I can't believe that a franchise that was based somewhat in reality has now become this. Director Don E. FauntLeRoy seems to do what he can with the script as the pace of the film moves along nicely and for the most part for this type of film the direction seems good. But the performances needed a little more work.

David Hasselhoff [yes that one] is actually pretty good in this film and makes for a believable snake hunter, especially towards the end his performance gets real good. John Rhys-Davies does a good job as expected for the short time he is in the film, as does the guy who plays Davis's right hand man who goes on the hunt with them. But other then those few everyone else ranges from average to just plain bad, are as disappointed as me? I really wanted this movie to be more then it was but I guess I have to settle with what I got. To be honest this film is not horrible it is just nothing note worthy, buy it if you want the collection but remember that a forth film in the series is coming.

I saw this movie in the Sci-Fi channel and its good for what it is. The effects were good for a low budget film and a reasonable plot. Some flaws are that it has a few implausible events and it feels distant as being a sequel of the first two films. Lake Placid 2 at least feels related to its predecessor.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 17 reviews  1.9 out of 5 stars