Sharknado 2: The Second One (Review)
Sharknado 2: The Second One
2014
Written by Thunder Levin
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante
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How can the same shark happen to the same guy twice?
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The Sharknadoes are back and this time they’re taking on the Big Apple! But New Yorkers aren’t going to just stand by and let their city get destroyed by a bunch of shark-laced tornadoes. Thus the people fight back, and more importantly, returning Sharknado hero Fin leads the fight against the sharknadoes. With Sharknado 2: The Second One, Asylum and SyFy step back into the world of viral creature feature movies, and score a monster hit. Not only was this the highest SyFy original movie ever (with 3.9 million viewers), but it’s also entertaining and fun. The action is bigger and more consistent throughout the whole film, leading to less of the pacing problem that the original Sharknado faced.
Sharknado 2 edges its predecessor with more ridiculous stunts and better graphics. The money shots are given a high quality look to better make cool gifs. The well-paced action provides continual entertainment, beginning with a ridiculously awesome plane sequence that just keeps raising the stakes and the body count. The excuses to get people moving around felt more genuine than Sharknado‘s goal post moving search for family. Sharknado 2 has what is the best excuse for not being able to reach someone by cell phone I’ve seen in a movie (the guy shuts it off so he can spend quality time with his son and not be distracted by work! So much better than random “out of service” shots or just ignoring phones altogether.)
Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and his ex-wife April Wexler (Tara Reid), who he is now reconciling with, are on route to New York City, his hometown and where his sister and her family live. But the flight path is right through the latest forming sharknado, and soon the plane is a disasterpiece that Fin has to land himself. Things become a desperate struggle to get his family to safety and to save the city from the sharknadoes, while chomping death flies in the skies and rains down on the people. Only chainsaws, buzzsaw hands, swords, guns, freon tanks, and a host of celebrity cameos can save New York City from nature’s wrath!
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Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: Al Roker, Andy Dick, Anthony C. Ferrante, Asylum, Billy Ray Cyrus, Biz Markie, Daymond John, Downtown Julie Brown, Ian Ziering, Jared Fogle, Judah Friedlander, Judd Hirsch, Kari Wuhrer, Kelly Osbourne, Kelly Ripa, Kurt Angle, Mark McGrath, Matt Lauer, Michael Gelman, Michael Strahan, Perez Hilton, Rachel True, Richard Kind, Robert Hays, Robert Klein, Sandra Denton, SciFi Channel, Sharknado, Stephanie Abrams, SyFy, Tara Reid, Thunder Levin, Tiffany Shepis, Vivica A. Fox, Wil Wheaton
Sharknado
Sharknado
2013
Written by Thunder Levin
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante
Helen Hunt, where are you??
Before it even aired on SyFY, Sharknado was making waves. First spotted as a film poster, Sharknado would make periodic social media resurfaces as more and more people saw the poster for the first time. The image of the sharks swirling in the tornado, with the tagline “Enough Said!”, was enough to send everyone’s lips a-talkin’ and smartphones a-tweetin’.
And lo, it came to pass that Sharknado did air on SyFy. An event film, it became a social media sensation, though the ratings failed to live up to the hype. How much was just people thinking they were too good to watch, and how much was the lamented switch to new SyFy movies on Thursday, I cannot say. But saw Sharknado I did, and thus, now we shall all learn about the Sharknado!
Duck Hunt world champion!
Sharknado laughs in the face of your physics and logic, presenting a world where a Mexican hurricane causes massive shark gatherings off the coast of LA, which are then sucked into water spouts and unleashed on the city, but not before random flooding causes sharks to be swimming in the streets, the sewers, back yard pools, and increasingly in higher ground. LA is as prepared for sharkmageddon as it is for being invaded by alien butts, thus no one has evacuated or even leaves the beach as terrible weather comes in.
Through it all, we follow surfing legend Finly “The Fin” Shepard, as he attempts to save his children and ex-wife from the swarms of sharks. Fin wasn’t always there for his family, but he’s there now, and has to mend the wounds while avoiding shark wounds. The journey is also an excuse to explain whey they just don’t hole up at the top of a tall building until the storm passes. Fin is also a guy who can’t leave lots of innocent people to die, so at times he goes and risks his life to save strangers. At one point this literally stops the film as he saves a busload of kids. But it’s nice to see a hero do heroic things and think of others, and not see people as just collateral damage for his conflict.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Sharknado saves the actual sharknado for the end of the film, before that it is just a glorified flooding shark attack movie. But the title does appear (3 of them!) and there is some sharknado destruction and gifable images. But I’m greedy and always demand more more more. While the carnage and death is fine, I can see why some people are disappointed.
Army of Sharkness!
But Sharknado is a wonderland of references and crazy stuff. It also has some odd parallels with Pacific Rim (at least three scenes) though they would be totally independent, as the Asylum version is called Atlantic Rim. Sharknado has references to Wizard of Oz, 90210, Shark Week, Jaws, Crocodile Dundee, and many more. It also features such wonderful shark battles as:
- pool stick vs shark
- barstool vs shark
- oxygen tank vs shark
- bookshelf vs shark
- lamp vs shark
- power lines vs shark
- exploding swimming pool vs sharks
- pistols vs shark
- chainsaw vs shark
I’ll teach you to use that Shark Attack 3 line on my teenage daughter!
I liked it, it wasn’t the best Asylum production, but it was enough to satisfy my SyFy cravings. And what other movie would brave a title like Sharknado?
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Hey, it’s a SHARK TANK!
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AE: Apocalypse Earth – Asylum gets in on the After Earth craze!
We are green on this planet, not blue. Death to blue!
If you were worried The Asylum didn’t have their own after Earth mockbuster, put your fears to rest. AE: Apocalypse Earth stars Adrian Paul and Richard Grieco, and follows the adventures of people who have left a ruined Earth:
A group of refugees from Earth land on an exotic planet, where they must fight ruthless aliens to survive.
May 28th is the release date, Thunder Levin directs and writes (he did the same for American Warships and also wrote the upcoming Sharknado!)
Costa Rican model Bali Rodriguez plays a mysterious woman who is green.
Categories: Movie News Tags: Adrian Paul, Asylum, Bali Rodriguez, Richard Grieco, Thunder Levin
