Sharknado 2: El Regreso

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

Who thought they could top the first Sharknado but they have. This time the sharknado hits New York City. From the opening airplane sequence to sharks in the subway to the Empire State Building Sharknado 2 is truly awesome. Who doesn't want to see sharks in a skyscraper?! There is a ton of celebrity cameos in this movie. There's nothing like Matt Lauer and Al Roker reporting on a sharknado. The terrible cgi in the movie makes it even better. The end of this movie is one of the most epic endings ever. It even tops the chainsaw scene from the first Sharknado. I don't think I could have asked for anything more from this movie. I don't know about you but I am for sure looking forward to Sharknado 3.

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.

The Sharknado series has to be one of the dumbest of all time. I don't understand what all the hype is about. People are saying they love this movie. Anyone who says that has obviously never seen a good movie. The first one was bad. The second one was almost as bad. The acting, the dialogue, the characters, the sharks, the story, the whole concept. They all suck.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for horror flicks that don't take themselves seriously. Piranha, for example. Or the Feast trilogy. Stupid, yet entertaining. Sharknado 2 is just plain stupid, as is the original.

Life is too short to waste on trash like this.

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.