2 Lava 2 Lantula!

I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie. It was everything you would want out of a SyFy Channel monster movie. It was campy, the special effects were entertaining, and the acting wasn't so bad that it was distracting. It was like they were all in on the joke with us so we could all laugh together. Steve Guttenberg shined as an earnest, troubled action hero, passed his prime. As another reviewer put it, he was endearing. Incredibly endearing.

This sequel, unfortunately, lost all of the charm of its predecessor. I don't know whose idea it was to make Guttenberg try to act like a poor man's Vin Diesel, but it was a lot. The constant gravelly speaking voice punctuated by the unnecessary growls in between got to be annoying after the first 10 minutes. Although I have to admit, I did chuckle when he growled (Fast and the Furious style), "I don't have friends, I have family."

It had the same premise as the first movie. Lavalantulas are attacking and Colton West and his Police Academy costars are off to save Colton's family. The spiders were bigger and just as hard to pronounce. They packed in a TON of movie references. I noticed Crocodile Dundee, Miami Vice, Independence Day, Cocoon, Jurassic Park, and of course 2 Fast 2 Furious. I'm sure I missed more.

I think it could have worked if they hadn't made Steve Guttenberg's character so unlikable. They changed his character too much and it negatively affected the overall feel of the movie.

The first Lavalantula (2015) was a surprisingly entertaining movie especially as it had the same vibe as the Sharknado franchise. Another blend of two things (Lava and Tarantulas) and starring three of the original stars of the 1980's Police Academy movies I had a lot of fun with it.

I was surprised to see a sequel created, even more so when I realised all the cast would be reprising their roles and was eager for more flamey spiders.

Though not bad it didn't live up to my expectations and in a way felt like a rushed sequel cashing in on the current popularity of these cheesy scyfy original movies.

For a start Guttenbergs character has gone from endearing to deeply annoying and that hurt the film, the amount of movie references packed into the film as well looked desperate and was sorely not needed.

Overall 2 Lava 2 Lantula is a definite watch for fans of the first but if this is the direction these movies will go then best stop here.

The Good:

Still do like me some flamey spiders

One particularly horrific death scene

Martin Kove is excellent as always

The Bad:

Guttenberg is deeply annoying this time round

Things I learnt from this movie:

Actors are apparently trained to fly grade A military helicopters for roles

4hrs of training is still fresh in a persons mind 25yrs later

Somewhere through the years Marion Ramsey forgot how to act

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

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.

The story is really similar to the first movie and it's not that good. Just like the first movie it's a rescue mission to go save his daughter and figure out a plan to defeat the lavalantula. The movie have a problem with its pacing with some scenes feels like it's dragging on a little bit too long. Also the movie try's way too hard to funny with its unfunny dialogue from current characters and pop culture references throughout.

The movie is still enjoyable with its action scenes of the lavalantula and it brings a few new ideas in it like them shooting spikes at people. The characters aren't as memorable compared to the first movie ones and some of them are pretty bad.

For the returning characters, Colton is still himself who doesn't have anything new about him. Marty is the annoying comedy relief who jokes never works. And Kyle acts more like a assistant to Colton.

The new characters aren't better, Raya is Colton daughter who is really bland. TJ is another fan of Colton who makes effective guns. Colonel Jester is just forgettable.