Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)

Overrated

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Side splitting hilarious. This is the kind of movie that was made under the pretence of "because we can" and the results are hilarious. It' a film that doesn't take itself seriously at all and that is the fantastic beauty of it. Physics? nah! Logic? nah! Just sharks in tornadoes causing chaos while our plucky hero and his band of merry men try to kill them in the most creative, "Dead Rising duct tape weapon combo" styles that they can... again. I can see why some people might not watch it but you have to understand that this is the movie equivalent of ordering takeaway and having it delivered. You don't want to think too hard or put much effort into watching it. You just sit back and hate yourself about how much you are enjoying it.

Considerably less realistic than original, but insomuch more fun. They made an effort not to repeat scenes from first movie and indeed they came up with bunch of new ideas, while repeating only things that simply had to be repeated as franchise trademark.When, in first movie, main character is swallowed by great white shark and survived, how the hell can you beat that in sequel ?! Easy, he get swallowed again and he survives again to even the score and then top that by finding arm with gun in her stomach, arm that was bitten off his wife at the beginning of the movie. You have to be complete genius to push absurdity so far that it becomes credible. Plus, beside lead couple from prequel, bunch of celebrity has cameo appearances and side roles. Overall impression is bit below first movie though, but just a bit. I loved it very much.

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.

Rotten apple from the Asylum, celebrated by syfy due to its intentional badness. I think many feel as I that if those who make a wretched film are in on the joke, the charm is lost. Many of the "appealing" bad films aren't intentional. They're accidental. Many of those who set out to make a film (many a regional low-budget filmmaker in the 60s and 70s), devoted and passionate because they most of the time care about what is being brought to life by them, aren't trying to dump a load of crap on anyone who sees what is produced. In fact, they often don't even realize how dreadful their work is. Those who made the first Sharknado (a dangerous tornado that sucked up sharks from oceans) understood all too well what was being produced for those willing to waste their lives on it. The second has way too much New York City iconography that doesn't seem stolen. I mean literally so much New York Mets, and the elaborate excess of this city's recognizable hotspots, this isn't the kind of bad film that we would see in the 80s by low budget guys trying to get something on 42nd Street. Anyway, Ian Ziering and Tara Reid (and Vivica A Fox and Kari Wuhrer) all must survive in New York City as sharks spin out of tornadoes and fall from the sky towards people (and them). Chainsaws are used frequently as are any number of weapons available (like baseball bats or a spinning saw blade attached to Reid's severed arm) throughout the city. Judd Hirsch, of Taxi fame is in this thing, as is the frontman for Sugar Ray, Mark McGrath...the former is a taxi driver (ugh) and McGrath a square husband of Wuhrer (he wears a sweater, for heaven's sake). Low budget horror/cult actress, Tiffany Shepis is a friend of Wuhrer's, getting her face ripped apart. There's a scene where the head of the Statue of Liberty is rolling down a street towards people (Wuhrer and her daughter, also), squashing a few folks! Explosives inside a tornado, Ziering literally riding a shark like a bull, Ziering flying into the mouth of a shark as his chainsaw tears it apart which allows him to escape from its inside, Reid losing a hand to a hungry shark, a former baseball player getting to hit the homerun he wasn't allowed in the Met's baseball stadium by knocking a shark into the stands, and city citizens picking up chainsaws to massacre sharks right in the streets make up many of the absurd scenes you find in this laugher. The special effects are horrible as expected. Undoubtedly these movies have their fans...there wouldn't be a third or even forthcoming fourth film unless somebody liked them. Seeing Al Roker and Matt Lauer, not to mention Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa, involved in the sharknado developments does further emphasize how there is just too much understanding of what kind of stupid fiasco this all is: this isn't a wink as much as a shout from the hilltops. Tongue isn't in cheek, it is wagging. With Downtown Julie Brown as a nurse, Billy Ray Cyrus as a surgeon, Robert Hayes as a pilot (what else?), and Andy Dick as a cop (ha) are among the faces that might be recognizable in a way to roll your eyes.