Sharknado 2: The Second One

Sharknado 2: The Second One

Sharknado 2 poster

Theatrical release poster
Written by Thunder Levin
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante
Starring Ian Ziering
Vivica A. Fox
Mark McGrath
Kari Wuhrer
Tara Reid
Theme music composer Christopher Cano
Chris Ridenhour
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) David Michael Latt
Editor(s) Ana Florit
Vashi Nedomansky
Cinematography Ben Demaree
Running time 95 minutes
Production company(s) The Asylum
Syfy Films
Release
Original network Syfy
Original release
  • July 30, 2014 (2014-07-30)
Chronology
Preceded by Sharknado
Followed by Sharknado 3

Sharknado 2: The Second One is a 2014 American horror sci-fi disaster film and a sequel to the 2013 television film Sharknado and the second installment in the Sharknado series. It was directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, with Ian Ziering and Tara Reid reprising their roles from the first film. The film premiered on July 30, 2014, and was the highest-premiering film on the Syfy Channel.[1][2]

Plot

Fin Shepard and his ex-wife April Wexler are flying to New York City to promote How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters, a book April has written about the Los Angeles sharknado. As the plane comes in for a landing through a storm, it is battered by airborne sharks, losing an engine. Sharks enter the plane, killing passengers and crew, including both pilots. While Fin lands the plane, April's hand is bitten off by a shark while she attempts to shoot it with an air marshal's handgun.

Fin's sister, Ellen Brody, is sightseeing in New York with her family. Her husband, Martin, a childhood friend of Fin's, takes their son, Vaughn, to a Mets game at Citi Field along with Martin's and Fin's friends Skye (a former love interest of Fin's) and Brian. Ellen takes their daughter, Mora, to the Statue of Liberty where she meets with her friends, Polly and Chrissie, who tell her about Fin's flight.

At the airport, Fin warns the crowd of the impending storm, but no one takes it seriously. After leaving April to the hospital for surgery, Fin is able to contact Ellen and tells her to get to Bales Tower Hotel on Manhattan as soon as possible. He agrees to retrieve Martin and Vaughn from the ball game, hiring a cabbie, Ben, in the process. At Citi Field, Skye surprises Fin with a kiss, but Fin explains that he and April are back together. The game is cancelled because of the storm, but when sharks start falling from the sky and killing people, Fin and his group improvise weapons to fight them and get on the subway.

On the ferry ride back to Manhattan, a shark kills Chrissie. The remaining three women flee from the severed head of the Statue of Liberty. Meanwhile, the subway tunnels flood, sending sharks to break into the train's rear cabin and kill Brian. Ben, who anticipated Fin's escape, takes Fin and the others to shops in search of weapons and items to make explosives. When the taxi is caught in a flood. Fin fashions a rope swing to take Skye, Vaughn, and Martin to safety. When Ben is killed in his attempt and the rope falls away, Fin uses the top of the sharks as stepping stones to reach the others.

Two sharknadoes are converging into a more powerful storm directly above the hotel. Fin and Skye head to the roof to try to bomb the sharknadoes. Polly is flattened by a whale shark, but Ellen and Mora reach the hotel and reunite with Martin and Vaughn. Fin and Skye sling bombs into the tornadoes, but as the storm system is too cold; only a few sharks are knocked down and they are forced to flee down a fire exit stairwell. They meet the Brodys, who were fleeing up the stairwell that is flooding with sharks. They break down a door to escape the stairwell and get out of the building.

April flees the hospital, taking a fire truck to meet Fin and the others. At the Empire State Building a third tornado is expected to merge with the other two. Fin plans to detonate a tank of Freon at the top of the building by connecting it to the structure's lightning rod to freeze the storm. He rallies a crowd of New Yorkers, including the mayor and his task force, to fight the sharks. As he and Skye implement the plan, April, who has affixed a circular saw to her stump, arrives and saves Fin from a falling shark. Skye sacrifices herself to help connect the cables; the Freon explosion throws them in the air where sharks rip Skye in half. While in the twister, Fin grabs onto and rides a great white shark using chains, eventually impaling it on the building's antenna. He reunites with April and finds her lost arm in one of the fallen sharks, using the handgun to kill another one. He then takes the wedding ring from April's severed hand and uses it to propose remarriage, and she accepts.

In a post-credit scene, Fin eats a slice of pizza.

Cast

Ian Ziering, Vivica A. Fox and Dante Palminteri prepare to jump the sharks.
  • Courtney Baxter as Mora Brody, Martin and Ellen's daughter
  • Dante Palminteri as Vaughn Brody, Martin and Ellen's son
  • Judd Hirsch as Ben, a taxi driver [3]

Many of the cameo appearances made nods to previous roles the guests had played. Robert Hays was previously a pilot in Airplane!; Judd Hirsch was a cab driver in Taxi, Daymond John is a panelist on Shark Tank, Jared Fogle was a longtime spokesman for Subway restaurants, and Billy Ray Cyrus was a doctor in Doc.[3][9]

Wil Wheaton had an uncredited cameo as an airline passenger along with his real life wife Anne.[3]

Lauer and Roker appeared as themselves, hosting The Today Show; Abrams appeared as an anchor for The Weather Channel. Both of those properties, like Syfy, are owned by Comcast.[7] In contrast, Michael Gelman, Strahan and Ripa all reprised their roles from Live with Kelly and Michael in the film; that show is not a Comcast property, instead directly competing with The Today Show.

There are multiple in-jokes about Jaws (1975). Polly (Peggy Scott) was Mr. Brody's secretary, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) was the chief, Ellen (Lorraine Gary) was his wife, Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) was the mayor's last name, Quint (Robert Shaw) was the shark hunter, and Chrissy (Susan Backlinie) was the name of the first victim.

Reception

Promoters of Sharknado 2 at the San Diego Comic Con International in 2013

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 59% rating based on 27 critics; the consensus states: "The schlock factor for Sharknado 2: The Second One is not as entertaining as its predecessor's, though fans of the brand will likely enjoy it."[10] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 50 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]

Brian Lowry of Variety said the CGI sharks looked terrible.[12] Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times said that it seems nothing more than dumb fun.[13] Verne Gay of Newsday said the film doesn't take itself as seriously as the original. He also said the film is not as good as the first.[14]

Don Kaplan of the New York Daily News said the film was "a slightly better, more watchable movie than its predecessor."[15] Caroline Framke of The A.V. Club gave the film an 'A', stating the "over-hyped sequel has zero business being this much fun".[16]

Broadcast

The sequel was broadcast on SyFy on July 30, 2014. In the UK, Australia and other countries, it was broadcast just minutes behind the US premiere, in most cases on each country's respective SyFy channel. Upon airing, the film was watched by 3.9 million viewers, with 1.6 million in the 18-49 demographic.[2]

Fathom Events released the film for one night in theaters across the United States on August 21, 2014.[17]

Tie-in merchandise

Two pieces of tie-in merchandise were released to coincide with the release of Sharknado 2. Sharknado: The Video Game, an endless runner video game, was released on July 20, 2014 to mostly negative reviews.[18][19] A comedic survival guide entitled How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters (the book that Tara Reid's character was to promote in the film) was released through Three Rivers Press on July 8, 2014.[20][21][22][23]

Sequels

July 2014 SyFy announced that there would be a Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! premiering 22 July 2015[24] taking place in Washington, D.C.[25][26] & Orlando, FL.[27]

Archie Comics also released a story about Archie Andrews encountering a Sharknado leading up to the third film.[28]

It aired on the promised date, followed by Lavalantula, which debuted July 25, 2015, the Saturday after Sharknado 3's Wednesday premiere.[29] Lavalantula featured Sharknado's protagonist in a cameo wearing a white t-shirt with crossed chainsaws. This indicates that it takes place in a shared universe. As he says he has "shark problems right now", this may indicate that the events of Lavalantula take place just before or concurrently with Sharknado 3.

Sharknado 4 was confirmed to follow upon Sharknado 3's premiere.[30]

Notes

  1. ↑ Thomas Vitale is the Executive Vice President of Programming & Original Movies for Syfy. He and his family cameo at the Mets game
  2. ↑ Petunia is a stuffed animal possum who has regular cameo appearances in the Sharknado series.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ng, Philiana (March 7, 2014). "'Sharknado 2' Premiere Date and Cameos Set". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Pennington, Gail (July 31, 2014). "'Sharknado 2' smashes ratings records". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Packle, Lori (July 30, 2014). "Warning: ‘Sharknado 2′ pool of celebrity cameos runs deep". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ Murray, Benjamin (March 31, 2014). "‘Sharknado 2: The Second One’ Is Coming This July". Liberty Voice. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ Ryan Cormier (31 July 2014). "Local actor survives 'Sharknado 2'". www.delawareonline.com.
  6. ↑ movie credits
  7. 1 2 Oldenburg, Ann (April 2, 2014). "Matt Lauer, Al Roker land 'Sharknado 2' cameos". USA Today.
  8. ↑ "Ben Demaree DP - Sharknado 2: Behind the ScenesPetunia, a..." – via Facebook.
  9. ↑ "The 11 Craziest Moments From Sharknado 2". E! Online. 30 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "Sharknado 2: The Second One". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Sharknado 2: The Second One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  12. ↑ Lowry, Brian (July 28, 2014). "TV Review: ‘Sharknado 2! The Second One’". Variety. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  13. ↑ Genzlinger, Neil (July 29, 2014). "Jaws Open, Monster Storm Hits East Coast". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  14. ↑ Gay, Verne (July 29, 2014). "'Sharknado 2: The Second One' is not as good as the first one (sorry)". Newsday. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  15. ↑ Kaplan, Don (July 15, 2014). "'Sharknado 2: The Second One': TV review". The New York Daily News. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  16. ↑ Framke, Caroline (July 31, 2014). "Sharknado 2: The Second One: This over-hyped sequel has zero business being this much fun". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  17. ↑ Gilman, Greg (August 5, 2014). "'Sharknado 2' heading to theaters for one night only". Baltimore Sun.
  18. ↑ Block, Alex Ben (July 8, 2014). "'Sharknado' Video Game Arriving With Syfy Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Sharknado:TVG". Metacritic. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  20. ↑ Charles, Ron (July 28, 2014). "‘How to Survive a Sharknado’". Washington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  21. ↑ Lieberman, Mark (July 22, 2015). "'How to Survive a Sharknado' offers apocalypse advice". USA Today. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  22. ↑ DesJardins, Jordan. "Book Review: ‘How to Survive a Sharknado’". ScienceFiction.com. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  23. ↑ Busis, Elizabeth (July 21, 2014). "Learn 'How to Survive a Sharknado' in this useful excerpt". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Sharknado 3 Officially Titled; Release Info Announced". Dread Central.
  25. ↑ Dvorkin, Ashley (July 30, 2014). "'Sharknado 2' star Ian Ziering: 'Sharknado 3' is a go!". Fox News Channel.
  26. ↑ Campbell, Chuck (September 13, 2014). "Report: Syfy to take aim at D.C. with next 'Sharknado'". WCPO-TV. Retrieved July 25, 2015. The Syfy channel has announced it will roll out a "Sharknado 3" in 2015
  27. ↑ "Sharknado 3 is filming in Orlando". WFOR-TV CBS Miami. February 19, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  28. ↑ Marnell, Blair (July 21, 2015). "First Look: Archie vs. Sharknado # 1". Crave Online. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  29. ↑ Lavalantula Promo - July 25 on Space. 15 July 2015 – via YouTube.
  30. ↑ "Sharknado 4 confirmed by Syfy as third film premieres". BBC News. July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

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