The Horror Show
Sharknado 2: The Second One
by Anthony C. Ferrante
I’ve discovered the greatest film released this year and that film is Sharknado 2: The Second One. I know right, a Syfy orginal film the best film of 2014? That’s almost crazy but I’m dead serious. I know what you’re thinking, how could the sequel out-sharknado Sharknado? You’re just going to have to trust me here, it does. We all saw what happened when sharks attacked The City of Angels, but let’s see what happens when a sharknado takes a bite out of the Big Apple.
Fin and April travel to New York City to visit family and to promote April’s sharknado survival book. However, the plane passes through the middle of a sharknado. The plane blows an engine when a shark gets sucked in, leaving the passengers open to shark attacks. In the midst of the chaos, April loses her hand to a shark. Once the plane safely lands, April is rushed to the hospital, where they stabilize her. Two sharknadoes are going to rampage their way through Manhattan. Fin warns his sister and she tells him that he must rescue her husband, who is at a Mets game. The sharks descend upon Fin’s arrival, and they manage to narrowly escape. Fin’s party must travel half of Manhattan to meet up with his sister. They must be quick because the two sharknadoes are going to merge and create a super sharknado strong enough to level even a skyscraper. This time firebombs aren’t going to be enough to cause these sharknadoes to burn out.
First, I have to say this was so much better than the first. In my honest opinion, the first Sharknado took itself far too seriously. It actually bored me quite a bit and I fell asleep halfway through. Sharknado 2 rectifies this issue. From start to finish the movie ceases to take itself seriously and is just a fun ride the whole way. Single-handedly the best moment of this movie was when Harland “The Blaster” McGuinness hits a home run, but instead of a baseball it’s a shark. There may or may not be a scene where someone rides on the back of a shark. Oh, did I mention shark versus sewer gator? What is not to love about this movie?
I really loved all the washed-up celebrity cameo appearances. We were graced with wonderful single scene performances by Kelly Osbourne, Andy Dick, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Robert Hays. There is just something satisfying about seeing a celebrity getting eaten by a shark. Okay, not all celebrity shark attacks are satisfying, that’s right, I’m looking at you, Samuel L. Jackson. Anyways, some celebrities appear as themselves like Kelly Ripa and Al Roker. Usually, that is a huge pet peeve of mine. It immediately sucks me out of the film. I begin to question the entire movie. For example, in the first Sharknado I could accept Tara Reid as April, no problem. Now in the sequel, why is Kelly herself but Tara Reid not? Does this film take place in an alternate universe where Tara Reid doesn’t exist? That leads me to another point, I hate it when movies take place in the “real world” but then make up historical figures. Sorry, but Harlan “The Blaster” McGuinness was never a baseball player for the Mets. It just irks me because that’s something that could just be easily fact checked. It creates a level of inconsistency that annoys me. However, I’m willing to forgive Sharknado 2 because of how entertaining it is. Kelly Ripa stomping a shark to death was just brilliant. Then there’s that baseball scene I mentioned earlier. Sharknado, you get a free pass this time.
My final peeve with the movie was the large amount of product placements that Subway had. It felt like a walking advert for Subway sandwiches. I actually started playing a game with the movie, I called it, “spot the subway ad.” That’s how much product was in this movie. Jared even made a cameo appearance. Which, I normally would have found to be awesome, but they didn’t even kill the guy. I thought Sharknado of all movies would have poked fun of the all the product placement, you know, by killing the former spokesperson of their sponsor. However, they kill off Perez Hilton and that’s basically like killing off Paris Hilton. So, I guess it’s fine.
Sometimes movie references within movies can be a bit heavy handed. It can be quite clever and subtle when done right. Like one of those if-you-don’t-know-the-reference-you-wouldn’t-notice-it type deals. There was a reference or two that I missed, for example the beginning of the film references Airplane! I was totally unaware of the reference because it was subtle and I never saw Airplane! If my girlfriend didn’t mention it, I would have never noticed. I never felt like there was a joke made that I didn’t get or felt left out of. However, it also brilliantly references the Twilight Zone when Fin sees a shark on the wing of the plane and he tries to warn people but no one believes him. Referencing other films is a fine line. If you get it the film experience should be enhanced, but if you didn’t then you shouldn’t feel like you missed anything. Sharknado 2 is loaded with tons of witty references from Star Wars to Evil Dead 2. I don’t know why but there is always a weird pride when you get a reference. It makes you feel like you’re smart or something. Maybe that’s why I liked this movie, it was just stroking my ego.
Disaster flicks have always been the bane of my existence, on the other hand, this movie was probably the most enjoyable film I watched in a long time. I couldn’t help but laugh at the majority of the movie. My only issues with the movie were outweighed by how damn entertaining the movie was. The acting was terribly amazing. That’s an oxymoron but I honestly enjoyed how bad the acting was. Even veteran actors manage to do a great job at being terrible. All of these magical elements lead it to being the highest premiering Syfy movie. One weird thing I noticed in this movie was that it wrote out several characters from the first film. It wasn’t a big deal or anything I just thought it was strange that Fin and April didn’t mention their kids once the whole movie. It’s a thing sequels do. Speaking of sequels, there is going to be a Sharknado 3! I now have really high expectations for this franchise. I don’t agree with everything Syfy does, like changing from Sci-Fi to SyFy but their original movies lately have been fantastic. I have faith that Sharknado 3 will not disappoint, I’ll be waiting for it to come storming in 2015.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS
The Horror Show Menu.