Sharknado 2: The Second One

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.

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

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.

Yup "Shark happens" This is definite junk food for the brain in a so bad it's awesome kind of way. The ultimate in guilty pleasure, Sharknado 2 is equally as bad (good) as the original although you can tell they had a bigger budget for the sequel because the special effects are better and there are a ton of cameos.

Ian Ziering, I have to give it to him here, he really gives his all and was fun as hell to watch running around New York saving the day, kicking shark ass with his chainsaw.

Lots of laughs, a good time, exactly what I was expecting from a made for TV B-movie. The opening scene with Robert Hays (Airplane) is awesome, it does drag a bit at times but filled with enough blood and epic cheese moments to make it through. Tara Reid is still god awful. The GMA guys were surprisingly hilarious. 7/30/14