641. Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)

Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Vivica A. Fox

Director: Anthony C. Ferrante

Running Time: 100 mins

Sharknado 2: The Second One is an American film and the sequel to Sharknado. This time, a freak sharknado (now seemingly accepted as a legitimate meteorological phenomenon) hits New York City, leaving only Fin able to grab his chainsaw and fight his way to save the city.

Well, this is definitely better than the first one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still terrible, and while I did say that I found Sharknado somewhat entertainingly appalling, this is riotously funny, while also significantly better-made and better-acted, which makes a huge difference to how enjoyable, or rather, not painful, it is to watch.

This film really throws you into the action. The first film spent terribly unnecessary time establishing boring characters in the cheesiest way possible, however with all of that done already, this film lets itself go absolutely insane with a hugely entertaining opening sequence in the most unlikely scenario.

So, this does start off on a good note, however I have to say that it does slow down significantly after its opening. As the story builds, and the tension allegedly mounts, it’s quite a boring spectacle. There’s very little going on in terms of the characters and the shark carnage, which was very disappointing, and very boring to see.

And while I do realise that this film is a B-movie made for the social network audience, I criticise its character development more because of the depth that it seems to want to take with its main characters. Whether it’s reinforcing something from the first film, or introducing someone totally new and integral to the story, it’s all pretty terrible, and that does really cement this film as a stupid and plastic B-movie.

However, you can’t criticise all the fun. While it is still a terrible film, the hype that has been building up to it since the sequel was announced is totally justified, because it delivers as an unintelligent but totally chaotic and entertaining spectacle, and with the closing stages being surprisingly fast-paced, it’s impossible to escape the fact that it’s more fun and simply better than the first film, so that’s why it gets a 3.3.

(I do think, however, that we’re going to be bored of all this by the time Sharknado 3 comes in 2015…)