Boa vs. Python (2004)
Nomination Year: 2011
SYNOPSIS: Two giant snakes fight. Film at 11 ... if they hadn't eaten the obnoxious news reporter....
A group of big game hunters have imported a rare giant python (something like 60-80 feet long) for a big game hunt. Of course, it gets away en route. Into the Philadelphia water treatment system. So the FBI shuts down the water to Philadelphia and surrounding environs. Under serious pressure to solve the problem quickly, the FBI agent supervising the operation recruits a (female) scientist who trains dolphins to detect mines, and has invented a tracking apparatus which is implanted into them -- and a (male) herpetologist (David Hewlett -- "Dr McKay" from a couple of the Stargate series) who has access to the largest scarlet boa (coincidentally enough, about 60-80 feet long) on the planet. The FBI guy's crazy plan is to implant the herpetologists's boa with the dolphin scientist's tracking apparatus, and use the boa to track the python. At which point, soldiers can move in, and yadda yadda yadda. Unfortunately for the FBI, the big game hunters decide to relocate their hunt from a private reserve to the aforementioned water system of Philadelphia.
The plot unfolds in a pretty formulaic matter (we were accurately guessing plot twists and bits of dialogue), but it was directed pretty well (especially since this turned out to be the director's first film), and it had a few clever aspects. The FBI agent was actually competent, listening to the scientists, knowing when to step up and when to back down. The scientists were not totally inept in everything but their chosen field. Stuff like that.
And of course, there were the snakes. Not quite bad enough for a Worst SFX nod, but amusing bits of CGI nevertheless. The python was green. The boa was red. The boa's name was "Betty," and I started to call the python "Frank" for no good reason.
The majority of the movie was the scientists hunting the snake, the hunters hunting the snake, and the snakes hunting the soldiers, the scientists, and each other....
...and every time the female scientist referred to her scientific tracking apparatus as "my implants," we laughed.
A group of big game hunters have imported a rare giant python (something like 60-80 feet long) for a big game hunt. Of course, it gets away en route. Into the Philadelphia water treatment system. So the FBI shuts down the water to Philadelphia and surrounding environs. Under serious pressure to solve the problem quickly, the FBI agent supervising the operation recruits a (female) scientist who trains dolphins to detect mines, and has invented a tracking apparatus which is implanted into them -- and a (male) herpetologist (David Hewlett -- "Dr McKay" from a couple of the Stargate series) who has access to the largest scarlet boa (coincidentally enough, about 60-80 feet long) on the planet. The FBI guy's crazy plan is to implant the herpetologists's boa with the dolphin scientist's tracking apparatus, and use the boa to track the python. At which point, soldiers can move in, and yadda yadda yadda. Unfortunately for the FBI, the big game hunters decide to relocate their hunt from a private reserve to the aforementioned water system of Philadelphia.
The plot unfolds in a pretty formulaic matter (we were accurately guessing plot twists and bits of dialogue), but it was directed pretty well (especially since this turned out to be the director's first film), and it had a few clever aspects. The FBI agent was actually competent, listening to the scientists, knowing when to step up and when to back down. The scientists were not totally inept in everything but their chosen field. Stuff like that.
And of course, there were the snakes. Not quite bad enough for a Worst SFX nod, but amusing bits of CGI nevertheless. The python was green. The boa was red. The boa's name was "Betty," and I started to call the python "Frank" for no good reason.
The majority of the movie was the scientists hunting the snake, the hunters hunting the snake, and the snakes hunting the soldiers, the scientists, and each other....
...and every time the female scientist referred to her scientific tracking apparatus as "my implants," we laughed.
Kevin Hogan
Oblivious
David Flores
Atanas Srebrev
