SHARKNADO 2, THE SECOND ONE
US, 2014, 90 minutes, Colour.
Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Kari Wuhrer, Vivica A. Fox, Robert Hays, Judd Hirsch.
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante.
As if it wasn’t clear, there is a subtitle to the title of Sharknado 2, The Second One.
This sequel is for those who enjoyed the original Sharknado and, according to statistics, they were very numerous, even if they were not watching the film with serious intent but enjoying its absurdities and laughing with and at the film.
FIn and his ex-wife are present in this sequel which is set in New York, well familiar to audiences for disaster films, audiences recognising many of the locations. In that sense, this film is more audience-friendly than the original.
Fin and his wife are travelling to New York, he a celebrity because of his LA exploits and the book that April, his wife, has written, a flight attendant (with mauve hair) wanting an autograph. But Fin is looking out the window and seeing storms and flying sharks once again. And they attack the plane with devastating deaths including the flight attendant. With an in-joke, Robert Hays, the pilot from the Airplane films, is the pilot here. But here and his co-pilot do not survive, with Fin, very nervy, having to bring the plane down. In the meantime, April has been hanging out of the plane and her hand is chomped off by a hostile shark (the other hand used to hang on though she is outside the plane!).
Meanwhile in New York City, Fin’s sister is going out with her daughter, her husband and son and friend going to a baseball match. Part of the drama is how the two women survive, trekking through New York, narrowly avoiding sharks – but, most importantly, the tornado having knocked off the head of the Statue of Liberty, it rolls down New York streets causing consternation and destruction!
In the meantime, Fin leaves the hospital, goes to the baseball match, meets up with his brother-in-law (an old rival) experiences the mayhem of the twister as well as the falling sharks, including a trip on the subway where the sharks attack the back carriage, and linesmen, intending to stop the water flow through the tunnels, are also dispatched.
So, plenty of mayhem. All the principals, including Fin’s previous girlfriend joining the group, arrive at the hotel where they try to destroy the sharks with explosives. The mayor gets involved as do other services and they see that the twister is in two parts, one in the East River, the other in the Hudson, veering towards meeting over the Empire State Building. The plan then is to harness the energy in the plant at the skyscraper and electrocute the sharks. Impossible though this might seem, it is ultimately achieved!
Production values in this sequel are better than in the first, and some of the special effects more effective. Acting performances are much the same. Ian Ziering is once again Fin and Tara Reid once again April. Vivica A.Fox is the past girlfriend.
Sharknado and its sequel were television events – but may not seem so in later years.
