Boa Vs Python

You know how it goes. She's a straight-A scientist who prefers to spend her time in the pool. He's a geeky reptologist who turns out to be not quite what she imagined. They only have 14 hours to save the Earth (or the local town, anyway) but she has other ideas. The trouble is, he's already in love - with a giant size boa constrictor called Betty.

Betty is needed to help the FBI. She's their last line of defence against the giant size python that has gone AWOL after being released by a callous big game trophy hunter. Using the scientist's state-of-the-art tracking system (which would go on to appear in Sharktopus) she'll lead them to the enemy. At least, that's the idea. Things are complicated by the city boy hunters in pursuit of their promised prize, a few unlucky locals, and the rather complicated personal relationship that develops between the snakes.

That's right - this is a film about the personal lives of giant snakes. Fortunately it also has more traditional monster on monster action, with lots of biting and thrashing of tails, and there's an adequate amount of human-munching. There's also cheesy macho posturing from the hunter, who seems to be trying to be Indiana Jones, forgetting Indy's famous phobia. And there are lots of semi-naked women, including exotic dancers who look so bored with their job that they can't be bothered to panic when confronted by a monster - they probably see worse than that at chucking-out time on Saturday nights. The dialogue is awful, as it ought to be, and suitably entertaining. Though it's confused by some seemingly random shifts of location, the plot is more substantial than is often the case in films of this type.

The same cannot be said for the special effects, which are very variable. Some scenes work well but the lengthier action scenes, especially when the snakes fight each other, are let down by really lazy CGI work (weak even by the standards of the time). This is compensated for by some imaginative set pieces that draw on the best of the monster movie tradition, with a bit of pantomime thrown in. We also get a classic crushing scene and an ending that recalls the wistfulness of the best Fifties contributions to the genre.

Far from a good film, this is nonetheless an entertaining one that slithers along at a healthy pace and delivers where it counts.