Different Standards

I have two words for you: Anaconda 2.

Movie sequels often have trouble living up to the high standards of the original.

The first movie sets the bar so high that it is nearly impossible to achieve the same level of greatness.

Now, I have never seen Anaconda 2. Frankly, I didn’t even know that it existed until Thursday night. But according to my friend, that is his favorite and, in his opinion, the best movie ever.

Citizen Kane? No.
The Godfather? Not so much.
Gone with the Wind? You’re joking, right?
Casablanca? You mean the football stadium in Quito?

I haven’t had time to do my research yet. It could be that Anaconda 2 is one of those cult classics. In a couple of years, you’ll see it regularly featured among the midnight showings at the State Theater, replacing Lebowski or Rocky Horror. I promise to find out soon enough, though.

I asked him what he thought of the first Anaconda. He liked the first one, but in his opinion, the second one was just an all-around better film. He also liked that the film was shot in Ecuador. (I did a bit of imdb´ing and learned they are making a fourth Anaconda. I also learned that the working title of Snakes on a Plane was Anaconda 3)

Intrigued, I inquired a bit more about his favorite films.

His next one was Fast and the Furious 3.

It is very rare to find the sequel that even comes close to the greatness of first offering. You have the rare occasion where you can eclipse the first one, like with Anaconda. Normally, you just find the second edition rehashing lines and gimmicks from the first one and leave unimpressed. But for someone to think that the fourth offering in a series is the best, the producers have really outdone themselves.

In fact, I have had the privelege of watching this one. The only reason I knew it existed was that they played the entire trilogy on my bus ride from Huacachina, Peru, to Lima, Peru, last summer. As third segments in movie series go, I would say that it doesn´t quite live up to expectations of Major League 3.

The conversation continued, and we started talking about Tom Cruise movies. He said he really liked Mission Impossible. I told him that I remember going to see that one at the Birmingham 8 and that I thought it was really cool, but I still don’t understand what happened. He said he really liked it because of when Tom Cruise took his face off. He couldn´t explain the plot to me.

Then we talked about Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. I admitted to not having seen those movies before, but he said that I really should. I told him I would looked into it. Then the subject of the conversation changed to video games.

I guess that the takeaway from this conversation is how different the taste in movies is down here. On the surface, the culture seems very similar. I mean, we have, more or less, the same movie selection in the United States that they have down here. But what makes a movie a good movie is a little different.