Sharknado 2

My Grade:  C

I know this review is a little late but, as Halloween gets closer, I will be reviewing some extra horror films for you guys. Today, I bring you Sharknado 2. This is the first time I am reviewing a sequel having not seen the first installment and it’s the first time reviewing a straight-to-TV movie. So strap in for the glorious B-movie fun that is Sharknado 2!

Sharknado 2 is exactly what you expect:  a tornado that brings sharks onto land to eat people. Flooding accompanies the tornado so sharks are able to swim in the streets and eat people as well. The first Sharknado happened in Los Angeles and brought together a bunch of no-name actors and... Tara Reid? I guess it isn’t so surprising that Tara Reid did a SyFy original movie because her career isn’t exactly one that has led her to critical acclaim. But she probably still makes tons of money, so who am I to judge?

Sharknado 2 picks up right where its predecessor left off. Fin (our ridiculously named protagonist played by the completely devoid of emotion Ian Ziering) and his girlfriend April (Tara Reid) are on a plane to New York for a book signing. April wrote a book entitled “How To Survive A Sharknado.” Which, by the way, allows for the word “Sharknado” to be thrown around a ton which is stupidly awesome. On the way, they encounter a mid-air Sharknado that destroys the plane and gets April’s hand bitten off. The plane successfully makes an emergency landing in New York and the sharknado doesn’t hit the city for a few hours. When it does, the action never stops.

The thing about this movie that makes it hard to review is that it is supposed to be campy and awful. So, on one hand, it does exactly what it is supposed to do making it a success. On the other hand, it is just awful from a story, character, dialogue, and acting standpoint. I have to be honest, though, it is a ton of fun to watch. I wouldn’t watch it again but I certainly enjoyed my two hours of badly rendered CGI sharks eating unsuspecting new yorkers and wildly bloody shark kills with everything from circular saws to chainsaws and even bombs attached to toys.

I’m not even going to talk about the attempted character development that fails miserably. I wish the filmmakers had left that out because it’s not necessary in this type of film. What I will mention is that there are some awesome cameos. Most notably, the annoying, ridiculously dressed, purpled-haired Kelly Osbourne gets owned by a shark early on. That was rather satisfying. Furthermore, Robert Hays (from the movie Airplane!) was, you guessed it, a pilot on the airplane. Also making appearances were Wil Wheaton (Star Trek:  The Next Generation), Andy Dick as a cop, Al Roker and Matt Lauer (who get a pretty solid team kill on a shark), Jared (from Subway), Billy Ray Cyrus (as a doctor... haha), Perez Hilton, pro wrestler Kurt Angle, and more. But my favorite was Daymond John from one of my favorite shows “Shark Tank”... get it? He turns to get a briefcase full of money and that hesitation ends him. How fitting. Those little tidbits of fun kept the movie entertaining but weren’t able to save the poor writing, dialogue and horrendous acting.

Overall, Sharknado 2 is not a good movie but it’s fun and it does exactly what it is supposed to do. It could have done without the pretending to have character arcs and twists but the over-the-top silly action and campy-ness of it all makes it worthwhile. If you’re in the mood for stupid, mindless entertainment, get Sharknado 2 from Redbox or Netflix when it is available.