Sharknado 2: The Second One

A freak weather system turns its deadly fury on New York City, unleashing a Sharknado on the population and its most cherished, iconic sites - and only Fin (Ian Ziering) and April (Tara Reid) can save the Big Apple.

Whether or not this tops the first film is hard to say, but they pulled all the stops when it came to references for "Taxi", "Airplane", "Jaws" and maybe even "Evil Dead". And the cameos are never-ending (good luck catching them all).

John W. Bowen said it very well when he argued that this film actually surpasses the first. He wrote, "The original wisely refused to take itself seriously but never fully embraced its own absurdity, whereas Sharknado 2 happily wallows in it and invites us to dive right in."

If you have friends and a case of beer (or whatever your preferred beverage is), this is a lot of fun. But if you expect it to be critically better in any way, you are delusional. It is just as cheesy as the first.

It was perhaps inevitable with the success (financial, not critical) of the first "Sharknado" movie that we would get a sequel. While other production units might have made a quickie effort, in some aspects this sequel comes across better than the first movie - slightly. The shooting in various places in New York City do give the movie a better looking backdrop. And there are some amusing moments, particularly with the many cameos by various celebrities. However, in some aspects the movie is worse. This is most evident with the special effects. I know you can't expect multi million dollar special effects, but for some reason the special effects here look worse than those in the first movie. Also, the characters are not written to be particularly interesting, which is probably why most of the cast give lazy performances. (Though Vivica A. Fox and Judd Hirsch do put some life in their roles.) In the end, this movie is pretty much at the level of the first movie. If you liked the first movie, you'll probably like this sequel. If you didn't like the first movie, you know what you're in for.

Having survived the Sharknado in Los Angeles, pro-surfer Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and his ex-wife April (Tara Reid) fly to New York City to promote their book, How To Survive A Sharknado, where they find the same thing happening all over again, only on an even bigger scale.

I usually prefer my crap movies to be bad by accident, although I do admit to enjoying intentionally crap disaster flick Sharknado just a bit more than I probably should have done. With this sequel, director Anthony C. Ferrante attempts to outdo his first film in terms of sheer silliness, and largely succeeds with some truly ridiculous set-pieces, but with essentially the same plot (full of gaping plot holes, not that that matters one bit), and equally dire CGI effects, I found that the novelty soon wore off, leaving me rather frustrated by the fact that there are now at least two more sequels, and a bloody good chance that I'll make myself watch them.

Things have calmed down since the first "Sharknado" (2013), but not for long… Romantically inclined Ian Ziering (as Fin Shepard) and raspy-voiced Tara Reid (as April Wexler) are on a flight to JFK International Airport in New York City. She is scheduled to give a speech, after authoring the successful book "How to Survive a Sharknado". He just wants a slice of New York pizza. Can't blame him. Accompanied by a theme song swiped from The Ramones, the opening credits get us off to a rollicking start. After an attack by sharks, whipped up by a sudden tornado, Mr. Ziering makes an emergency landing. Despite the fact that several passengers have their heads eaten by flying sharks, and others are whisked out of the plane, many people are reluctant to believe Ziering's dire warning about another "Sharknado". Mostly oblivious to the foreboding weather, citizens go about their everyday business...

Then, the shark hits the fan...

For years, the Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi) Channel has been slaughtering science-fiction film aficionados with the some of the worst "original movies" ever to see the green light of day. The cheap, lurid and derivative stories would sound promising during promotion – then proves themselves a cinematic disaster when viewing. The best of the quick, low-budget productions had a sense of humor. Spoofing the genre, "Sharknado" and "Ghost Shark" (2013) were surprisingly fun. Mindful of this, director Anthony C. Ferrante, writer Thunder Levin (his real name) and the "Asylum" crew respond by treating this sequel as a comedy. They seem to be saying, "We know you're laughing at us, we're laughing with you." The shark attacks are hilarious – and they wouldn't be funny with fantastic special effects and great acting. There will certainly be more "Sharknado" movies, but topping this one will be a challenge...

****** Sharknado 2: The Second One (7/30/14) Anthony C. Ferrante ~ Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Mark McGrath, Vivica A. Fox

Caution: Falling sharks alert. Get out your buzz saws, or Kelly Rippa's high heels.

Once again, sharks have hitch-hiked along with tornadoes in order to dive bomb victims from the sky during a perfect sharkstorm. Our finny friends have flown 3,000 miles east of LA to hammer a bunch of cameo appearance stars in New York. Speaking of flying, we open with the finest Sharks-On-a-Plane sequence ever filmed.

The Weather channel's shark funnel graphics of sharks spinning around and the "War on Sharks" bit are comic genius. Shark density reports such as "sharks are falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour," so you will not be caught off guard. Unless, of course, you stay outside, where all the sharks are flying around, which seems to be what everybody in this movie does.

SyFy has been the biggest master of camp and cheese on cable, and they readily admit it with self-mockery such as this. It shows a lot of humorous imagination, and the many celebrities in cameos take a good turn at poking fun at themselves.

Whether you like this or not will depend upon whether the approach of psychotic silliness hits your funny bone or not. If you do like that style of humor, then I recommend it wholeheartedly.