Sharknado 2: The Second One Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

“Sharknado” took the world by storm, thus in the grand tradition of Hollywood, the Syfy Channel greenlit a sequel in no time. That sequel, “Sharknado 2: The Second One”, came out only a year after the first movie. While in big studio terms, that might seem fast, that’s just business as usual for The Asylum.

The plot is bigger, crazier, sharkier, and nadoier-

After their airplane to NYC makes an emergency landing, Fin and April race to save Fin’s sister Ellen (Kari Wuhrer), her husband Martin (Mark McGrath), their kids Mora (Courtney Baxter) and Vaughn (Dante Palminteri), former flame Skye (Vivica A. Fox), and school pals Polly (Sandra Denton) and Bryan (Judah Friedlander). That’s a whole lot of new cast members, plus there are roughly two million cameos in this flick!

 

Anthony C. Ferrante returns to the director’s chair, and the first movie’s success seems to have enlivened him. As crazy as the first one was, this feels less restrained and goes bonkers every chance it gets. There are shark silhouettes in clouds, a shark flattening a cyclist, the Statue Of Liberty’s head rolling down Wall Street, and later in the finale it rains down flaming sharks. It rains down flaming sharks! God bless The Asylum!

Thunder Levin is once again on scripting duties, and he as well seems emboldened to push the already crazy premise to its outer limits. The first movie played things straight enough to sell the drama, and while this movie does have dramatic stakes, it is more of an intentional comedy. Some of that comes from the crazy cameos, some from the dialogue- frogger!- and some come from the ways in which the sharks are dispatched this go round. But, to replace the dramatic arcs, this movie is far less afraid of killing off characters. The body count includes a number of major characters, and that helps make the stakes feel higher.

 

The editing by Ana Florit and Vashi Nedomansky is very good, with no scenes or moments going on too long. This movie also looks better than the first “Sharknado”, with zanier, crazier shots; such as the moment just after Fin’s big speech where he has to lean back to slice a falling shark in half. The angle of the shot and lighting nicely highlight the destruction in the background, and allows for a nice showing of the viscera happening thanks to the now halved shark.

 

Ian Ziering once again holds the insanity together with a very solid and commanding lead performance. His rousing speech at the end is delivered with great bravado, and he really does seem like an action hero. Tara Reid’s role is more action centric this time, and she holds her own very well. Early on, she gets her hand bitten off, and then pulls an Ash! That’s right, she gets a chainsaw hand! This means for most of the movie’s runtime Reid can’t use one of her hands. Despite how difficult I imagine it’d be to act as such, I know for a fact that she never once used her gone hand in a scene where she wasn’t suppose to. That’s very impressive if you ask me.

 

Mark McGrath is believable as a dad trying to find and protect his family. He and Ziering have solid camaraderie, and their reconnection seems real. Kari Wuhrer’s performance is good, but her character gets the short shrift in terms of an arc and emotional depth. But she feels very mom-like and protective, which is good. Judd Hirsch is pretty fun in the small but crucial role of Ben - a taxi driver. Courtney Baxter and Dante Palminteri have some nice line deliveries throughout.

 

The two Chris’, Ridenhour and Cano, are on scoring duty this time, and do not disappoint. The music playing when Fin ropes a shark and rides it down atop the Empire State Building’s spire is epic!

 

It is overstuffed with cameos (some I definitely didn’t get/ still don’t), but because of its bigger, more balls-to-the-wall crazy attitude, I like this sequel more than the first movie. It is crazy, funny, crazy funny, and entirely enjoyable!