Anacondas: the Hunt for the Blood Orchid

the Poster:

poster yg tak semenggah. capital FAIL !

the Trailer:



the Plot:

the motley Crew

A team of researchers sets off into a jungle in Padrang - Borneo, Indonesia to search for a "blood orchid", a flower they believe can be used as a type of fountain of youth.

Though their guide Bill Johnson (Johnny Messner) has misgivings about which path to take, Jack Byron (Matthew Marsden) bribes him to take the path he doesn't think is safe.

The team ends up going over a waterfall and having to wade through the river.

the failure of the engine brought them over

everything comes down, you could feel the swoosh!

they brave the swamp with little of what they have

Cole felt something is not right

why not, there is an anaconda swishing in between them!

A giant anaconda then emerges from the water and swallows Dr. Ben Douglas (Nicholas Gonzalez) whole, while the rest of the team escapes the river. Bill tries to assure them that it was the largest snake he's ever seen and that it should take weeks' for it to grow hungry again, however Gail as the representative of their benefactor demands that the expedition be called off.

They decide to travel to Bill's friend John Livingston (Andy Anderson) who lives on the river to see if he can borrow his boat. While traveling to the boat, Bill tells Sam (KaDee Strickland) about Jack bribing him into taking the unsafe route. Along the way, Bill finds an infestation of leeches on Cole's (Eugene Byrd) back and burns all of them with his lighter while Tran (Karl Yune) finds a poisonous spider in Gordon Mitchell's (Morris Chestnut) shoe. Jack decides to take the spider along for further study and then everyone resumes the journey to the boat.

However, Livingston is killed by another anaconda and his boat crashes into the riverbank. The team sees an explosion and finds the boat wrecked and are devastated for the loss.

the stuffs left from Livingstone's boat wreck are not enough

 
They then decided to ask the nearby native villagers for a boat to use. While continuing their journey, they find Livingston's chewed up corpse.

Bill realizes that it must be mating season, which means all of the male anacondas come out of their territories to find the nearest female in its mating pit.

They find themselves in a small native village consisting of thatched huts where a disemboweled anaconda with a pair of human legs hanging out of the snake's abdomen is displayed. The team speculates that the snakes are unusually large in size because their lives have been extended through the orchids, which are a part of the local food chain.

the carving by the well at the native village

Jack says that since they must be close to the orchids, they should press on. However the others contend that there is no evidence that the orchids will have the same effect on humans and still want to leave, so they start building an escape raft using the woods gathered from the vacant houses.

Meanwhile, Gordon discovers that Jack had secretly obtained Livingston's private case containing a radio and a gun and realizes he could have called for help long ago. When Jack is unable to convince him to allow the expedition to continue, he paralyzes him using the spider. As Jack joins the others at the raft, Sam discovers a paralyzed Gordon and notices the spider bite on his arm. While Sam was interrogating Jack about what he had done to Gordon, an anaconda drops down from the rafters and swallows Gordon alive soon after she leaves the building.

the paralysed Gordon can't do anything to save himself

they could only watch Gordon being swallowed alive, unable to do a thing too

 the others arrive just as it finishes swallowing Gordon whole, so Bill sets the building on fire. Jack uses the commotion to steal the raft.

 

With no more material to make another raft, they decide to bushwack through the jungle to beat Jack to the orchids and get back their raft. On the way they fall into a cave trying to escape an anaconda. Cole gets lost and panics after finding a skeleton. He runs into Tran. Together they make their way back to the others. Along the way, Tran falls through a hole in the cave floor. Unable to escape, he is eaten by an anaconda underwater. The terrified Cole manage to make their way back to the team, escaping the caves behind them seconds ahead of the snake. It follows them through the hole, and attacks them. Sam uses a machete to behead the snake, but Cole is captured by another giant anaconda. The team follows and find him being constricted, but still alive. Bill throws his knife and impales the snake through the head, killing it and freeing Cole.

The group finds the raft just as Jack finds the blood orchids, hanging precariously above a pit in which a ball of male anacondas are mating with the female.

jackass!

Jack shoots Bill in the arm, and forces the party to accompany him to the orchids. He has Sam cross the pit via a thin log to fill a backpack with orchids. As she makes her way back, the log starts to crack. Jack orders her to throw him the backpack, but Sam counters to threaten to drop the flowers into the pit unless he drops the gun. The log breaks and she falls, landing halfway down the pit. As the others help her climb out, Jack tries to get the backpack. The spider like the one Jack used to paralyze Gordon bites him. Jack falls into the pit and is devoured, as Sam and the others escape.



The female anaconda notices them, but Gail (Salli Richardson) tricks it into biting their fuel container. Bill tries to shoot the container, but the gun is empty. Cole shoots it with a flare, causing a chain reaction that kills the snakes, along with all the blood orchids as well. Bill, Sam, Cole, Gail, and Bill's pet monkey Kong make it back to the raft and leave. As they set off with their raft, Bill suggests another shortcut much to the chagrin of others.


the Characters:

funny Cole

flirty Dr Ben

dependable Bill

tough Sam

cool Tran

treacherous |Jack

lucky Gail

ill-fated Morris

the Riviu:

now that i've finished watching the absorbing Once Upon a Time Season 1, i was free to watch and review one of my favourite action-beast movie: the Hunt for the Black Orchid. it was riveting, suspenseful and funny at times. but i do love the machismo of Bill and Tran. they made the journey seems safe enough with their buff arms :ehem:

anyway, this movie got itself criticised for being geographically incorrect. Anacondas do not dwell in Borneo, people. trust me. here we only have phythons or what Tran would say: Ular Sawa. as for labah-labah batu aka stone spider, that i do not know.

it also perplexes me when even though it was so called a rainy season, their journey was not at all hampered by rain. plus, the passengers of the boat did not bother to wear a safety jacket. the boat didn't even have a life preserver. surely the USD50,000 given for the journey should at least include those safety measures just for the sake of decency. plus they are passing through a rather wild frontier, shouldn't they bother about insect repellant and protection from leeches and whatnots? ni mesti tak nak these guys look less macho kan?

however one of the reasons why i like this story is that its characters transform from being a petty frightened people into survivors. that applies to Sam mainly and Gail secondly. and the fact that there are survivors that are not limited to the hero/heroin, it's a fresh turn for its genre. you see, even Gail and Cole want to live and leave the place also.. if you must know, one of the best moments would be when Sam first slaughtered the anaconda chasing Cole. pure satisfaction! such so that Bill is reduced to supporting role of a hero.

and the 3 stars are a bit too many but this movie owes it to these two men :)

the husky sound of Bill's voice, perghhh.. handsome!

senyum Tran yang amat manis

 yup, i think i'm too generous but then this is my 5th rounds at watching this movie and still i like it, despite the unimaginative poster we have up there. yux!