Dhruv Sharma
‘Anaconda’ is an adventure-style creature feature that does not disappoint if you walk into it with the right expectations. With a great cast and some beautiful filming locations, the film packs a whole lot of gory “snake-regurgitating” action that keeps you on edge throughout. Although there are moments where it seems too dumbed down or just downright predictable, its impressive animatronic anaconda visuals are enough to keep you hooked. With that said, if you’ve watched it and you’re looking for a brief breakdown of its action-packed ending, we have you covered in the article below.
Plot Summary
In its opening moments, ‘Anaconda’ foreshadows the danger that awaits the protagonists by depicting how a poacher commits suicide before being killed by a mysterious creature. In the meantime, director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) and her crew including cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), production manager Denise Kalberg (Kari Wuhrer), sound engineer Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), business tycoon Darren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde), anthropologist Professor Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), and boat skipper Mateo (Vincent Castellanos) set sail on the murky waters the Amazon River to find the long lost Shirishamas tribe.
Along the way, they spot a stranded snake hunter, Paul Serone (Jon Voight), who at first politely accepts their help. But with what follows, Paul misguides them by claiming that he knows where they can find the tribe and leads them to the darkest corners of the river. The more they rely on Paul’s directions, the closer they get to becoming the prey of vicious giant snakes known as the Anacondas.
The Ending
Towards the end, the crew of the boat reluctantly follows the path suggested by Paul, who promises them that if they help him get his hands on a record-breaking green Anaconda, he’ll make sure that they leave the forest unscathed. Paul even uses a dead monkey as bait to lure the snake towards them so that he can catch it. But things don’t go as planned, and Gary becomes the second victim of the snake after Mateo. As a result, the crew realizes that Paul is nothing but trouble, so they tie him up and try to get out of the river as fast as they can.
The following day, the boat hits the rocky edge of a waterfall. Due to this, Terri, Danny, and Westridge reluctantly enter the Anaconda infested waters of the river to hoist the boat loose. While they are at it, Denise carelessly confronts Paul for her boyfriend’s death and gets strangled to death. Paul then dumps her body in the river, which attracts the snake towards them. Westridge distracts the snake by leading it to the waterfall’s rock shelter, while Terri and Danny rush back to the boat. In his pursuit to save his friends, Westridge gets killed by the Anaconda. But before the giant snake can get Danny as well, Terri shoots it in the head. Paul still tries to get his way by attacking Terri, but just when he’s about to press the trigger of his gun, Cale, who was previously stung by a wasp, gains consciousness and stabs Paul with a tranquilizer. Little do they realize that the tranquilizer will not be enough to hold him down.
While they attempt to leave the waterfall, Paul catches up with them again and knocks them out. Upon waking up, they find themselves all tied up with Paul, bathing them in monkey blood. As previously established in the film, the smell of blood entices the Anacondas, and so, drawn to the scent of blood, another Anaconda appears and almost suffocates Terri and Danny to death. But while Paul attempts to flee the scene, the snake moves on to him and swallows him whole after crushing all of his bones.
In the film’s closing moments, a showdown ensues between the Anaconda and the surviving duo. Using their wit against the overpowered monster, the two drive the snake into a smoke shack and set the entire place on fire. A colossal explosion sends the snake flying out of the shack while Danny and Terri head back to their boat to seek refuge. In the end, after almost being burnt to death, the snake returns, but Danny uses an ax to chop its head off. Cale, Danny, and Terri eventually become the only survivors of the deadly voyage, and in the closing scene, the people of the Shirishamas tribe surround them. With the tribe’s help, the trio makes it out alive, with a crucial lesson—even the smallest immoral or selfish acts against nature can completely disrupt the ecological balance of the world around them.
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