2 Lava 2 Lantula!

RELEASED TO TV IN 2016 and directed by Nick Simon, "2 Lava 2 Lantula" chronicles events in Fort Lauderdale and the Everglades when volcanic activity releases fire-breathing arachnids the size of people. Steve Guttenberg plays a B-movie actor who rises to the challenge of annihilating the creatures. Michele Weaver plays his stepdaughter and Michael Winslow his pardner. RJ Walker & Jimmy Bellinger are also on hand. There are a lot of familiar faces.

Like the previous film from 2015, this sequel is a fun, campy non-horror flick with the expected cartoony CGI. I'm glad they switched the location to Florida to shake things up (although it was apparently shot in Louisiana). Lorynn York is comely as Raya's friend, but not enough is done with her. It's entertaining to a point, but at the end of the day it's a forgettable throwaway flick.

THE FILM RUNS 83 minutes and was shot in Louisiana with obvious establishing shots of Florida. WRITERS: Neil Elman & Ashley O'Neil.

GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

They should have stopped with the first movie, because that was actually a good, wholesome movie.

But as it usually goes with sequels, then so was also the case with "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" was nowhere near the same level of entertainment and movie experience as the 2015 "Lavalantula" turned out to be. Why? Well, perhaps because it just lacked a proper storyline, but mostly because of Steve Guttenbergs performance in this sequel. I mean, he really surprised with his performance in the first movie, but then pulled up something else entirely for the sequel. His performance was wooden, rigid and he delivered all of his lines as if he was struggling with indigestion or something.

The effects in "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" were good and did live up to the effects from the first movie. Sure there were moments here and there with the occasional questionable effect, but in overall then the CGI and special effects team managed to deliver their craft with a good result. The spiders looked good and realistic most of the time, aside from the garganlavalantula, which turned out quite poor.

And the weapons in the movie was a major step back for the movie, especially the two freeze weapons that Steve Guttenberg and Michael Winslow were equipped with. What was up with this? First of all, they were way too oversized, and then they were also just too far out there.

It was good, though, to have some of the original cast from the first movie to return to the sequel, albeit not all of the performances were living up to what we saw in the 2015 "Lavalantula" movie.

There were a couple of spoofs on other movies and TV shows to be seen throughout the course of "2 Lava 2 Lantula!". Personally then I found the one on the "Miami Vice" TV show to be the most funny.

I was more than surprised and entertained with the first movie, but I must admit that I found "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" to be less than mediocre. And as such, then it scores a meager four out of ten stars from me.

Lavalantula was a lot of cheesy fun, unusual for SyFy original movie. This sequel is not as good as the first one as Colton West (Steve Guttenberg) returns this time as a heroic action star because of the events of the first film.

This time he is making a film in Miami and his stepdaughter Raya is sunbathing in Fort Lauderdale when lava spitting spiders spew out of the ground and attack the people of Florida.

Colton with the help of his former Police Academy actors goes to rescue his daughter and with the help of the military, led by Colonel Jester (Martin Kove) he has to kill the giant gargantulantula.

Because of the Miami setting there are a lot of references to Miami Vice and Scarface but you will also spot references to Crocodile Dundee, Deliverance, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Die Hard, Independence Day, Indiana Jones and a lots of other films that will keep movie geeks satisfied.

It is still an enjoyable cheesy film, still better than a lot of SyFy films but an element of a rushed sequel as well.

The first one is great. Its a cheap action sci-fi film with all the good characteristics that made the Sharknado movie into a huge franchise. This franchise could have ran for a good 4 or 5 films but they parodied things too much. Whats the phrase... "too soon"...? Too much suspension of belief is required with Guttenberg's rough & raw voice acting. Also, the side story with his daughter takes up too much time in the movie and has more action than Guttenberg's scenes. Its not interesting to watch these C grade actors say and do what they say and do. The props are a bit cheap looking too. I know they are trying to make fun of different action movies and movies Guttenberg has acted in, but its just not funny. Did anyone notice the black army officer's teeth?? Looked so weird.... like they were fake.

Enjoyed the first 'Lavalantula' in a guilty pleasure sort of way. It was not what one calls great, but manages actually to be one of SyFy's best and more watchable films by quite some distance. Being someone who, like many, mostly hates SyFy with a passion, that's saying quite a bit. For the record, it's their compulsive badness and curiosity to see if they have the ability to make something decent once in a while keeps me watching.

'2 Lava 2 Lantula' is very much an inferior follow-up, with the problems far more evident. '2 Lava 2 Lantula' is not terrible by any stretch and like 'Lavalantula' is also one of SyFy's better and more watchable films, but 'Lavalantula' had more freshness, more fire and more bite, was more focused story-wise and didn't take silliness too far, definitely easier to take as a guilty pleasure.

Again, like 'Lavalantula', as far as SyFy movies go '2 Lava 2 Lantula' looks decent. Editing and photography is tighter than most SyFy movies, locations are colourful and atmospheric, the way the production is lit is less drab than usual. The creature special effects are more mixed, at some pretty they're not bad at all, at other times they're fake and over-obvious. That doesn't stop thankfully that the creatures themselves do have menace and personality, and the film again knows how to utilise them.

The music score is groovy and eerie, is careful not to overshadow the dialogue and is used appropriately. The direction shows confidence.

While there are worse script in SyFy films, the script is one of the weakest assets here and doesn't have as much above average quality as before. There are amusing moments and there are some neat references that will have film and sci-fi fans grinning, but it lacks snap and bite and tongue-in-cheek too often apart from some moments is replaced by campiness. Campiness that tends to grate and be overused rather than endear.

It does make the mistake that 'Lavalantula' managed somehow to avoid, at times it does try too hard to be stupid and the tone and target and audience aren't as clear. The creature attacks are fun and suspenseful still though, if again lacking the scare factor. The story is even more disjointed and over-stretched and due to lacking freshness also feels predictable and derivative.

Characters are not as annoying certainly as other characters in SyFy films, and there is some lively pacing. The acting is vastly inferior here, it was above average before, it was not good here. Especially Steve Guttenberg, whose uncomfortable-looking over-acting was painful to watch. The rest were nice to see, but they could have had more to do and they tend to be stale. Michael Winslow gives the best performance, he at least knows what kind of film he's in and doesn't take it seriously while also not falling on the wrong side of camp.

Overall, watchable but a fairly difficult one to rate and review. 5/10 Bethany Cox