Monday, October 20, 2014

SHARKNADO 2-THE SECOND ONE: A NEW SO BAD IT'S GOOD FLICK


So when there was the hubbub about the movie SHARKNADO I didn't jump on the bandwagon knowing up front that the movie was probably as bad as it sounded. I mean most of the made for TV movies that I'd seen on SyFy were so bad that I wouldn't want to waste my time with them. So when I heard that a sequel was in the works I felt the same way. Then it arrived on my doorstep and I thought maybe I should watch just to warn people. Instead I found myself laughing out loud a number of times, more than some of the recent comedies I'd watched.

This is not to say that SHARKNADO 2: THE SECOND ONE is a great movie. Rather it falls into that category of films known as "so bad they're good". This designation is saved for movies that are either so terribly made (unintentionally so) that you can't help but laugh at them or movies that are the opposite, made this way so you can snicker at them and laugh knowing up front that they were intended to be bad from the start. This film falls into that second category.

Having not seen the first one, something I need to rectify soon, it took me a moment or two to figure out that this film took place some time after the first one ended. Fin (Ian Ziering) and his ex-wife April (Tara Reid) are heading to New York to promote the book she wrote about surviving the first sharknado. If you don't know what it is it's a tornado that pulls up tons of sharks into it and then hurls them around and lets them lose at various individuals causing much CGI spilled blood in the process. The pair finds themselves flying in the midst of a freak storm and Fin begins to see sharks flying beside the plane. He's told to settle down but soon everything changes as one shark slams into an engine blowing it apart while others begin to find their way into the plane. When the pilots are eaten/knocked out of the plane, Fin comes to the rescue and lands it.

With all that's gone on by now you would think people would begin to prepare right? Nope. Instead they go about their business including Fin's sister and her family. The guys head to the ballpark and his sister takes her daughter to see the Statue of Liberty. You guessed it, both are hit by the shark filled tornados that fling more sharks at people and tear apart the city, including Miss Liberty. When this starts happening the family decides it's time to head back to their hotel to be with one another.

Amazingly (yeah right) Fin and his brother in law and nephew meet up in this huge city and make their way to the hotel. Along the way they're helped by Fin's old girlfriend and a cranky NY taxi cab driver. Fin suggests a plan of attack on the sharknados. That's right; there are two of them heading for one another which would turn them both into one huge sharknado spelling disaster for everyone.

If you've gotten this far you have to be wondering if I'm serious or making this up. I'm not. This is indeed the movie being seen. And it's SO over the top that it becomes hilarious. Home made bombs put together using small propane tanks, chainsaws used to slice up sharks and sharks actually leaping from the water filled streets of Manhattan are all found in this movie. And because it's so blatantly bad it becomes even more hilarious. These were the sort of movies we were cheering years ago when we went to midnight movies!

To cap things off there are tons of cameos in the film. I won't spoil the actor playing the plane's pilot (it's that good of a joke) but you'll find more than him here. Included in the film are Wil Wheaton, Judd Hirsch, Downtown Julie Brown, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kurt Angle, Robert Klein, Mark McGrath, Kari Wuhrer, Vivica A. Fox, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, Judah Friedlander, Perez Hilton, Richard Kind, Biz Markie, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Kelly Osborne, Kelly Rippa, Michael Strahan and more all avoiding the flying sharks (in some cases trying to and failing).

No this is not a movie that is destined for the Oscars. But it will be one that you can laugh at and is well worth the rental fee. It might even be worth adding to your shelf for one of those nights when you want to pop some popcorn, sit down and make comments ala MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 2000. There will be plenty to laugh at and comment on. Don't take it seriously but rather sit back and have some fun. This movie offers that with a little bite to boot.

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