Sharknado
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 Enough said! Yes, that's the tagline.
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Sharknado is a 2013 made-for-television satirical disaster film about a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and wrecks Los Angeles. It is the first installment in the Sharknado series. It first aired on the Syfy channel on July 11, 2013, and stars Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, Jaason Simmons, John Heard, and Ian Ziering. Despite having a cult following and somewhat positive reviews (a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes), the movie is very flawed, though it might've been made that way.
Plot
A freak cyclone hits Los Angeles causing man-eating sharks to be scooped up in water spouts and flood the city with shark-infested seawater. Surfer and bar-owner Fin (Ziering) sets out with his friends, Baz (Simmons), Nova (Scerbo), and George (Heard), to rescue his estranged wife, April (Reid), and teenage daughter Claudia (Aubrey Peeples) after the bar and boardwalk is destroyed in the flooding. While heading to April's home, the group stop on a freeway to save people as flooding causes sharks to attack. George is killed and the group learns of a tornado warning. They arrive at April's house just before the first floor is flooded and shark-infested. Collin (Christopher Wolfe) April's boyfriend is eaten by sharks, but the rest of the group escape unharmed.
Afterwards, a Hollywood sign is blown down by strong winds, crushing the driver of a school bus. Fin stops the car to save the kids stuck in the bus from the assaulting sharks. While Fin is driving the car, a shark lands on top of the car and rips the roof off. Fin's hand is cut and the group abandons the car before it explodes. They rent another car and meet up with Fin and April's son Matt (Chuck Hittinger), who's taking shelter at his flight school. As the tornado hits, his instructor is sucked out. They borrow equipment from nearby storage and Matt and Nova become attracted to each other. Matt and Nova decide to stop the threat of the incoming "sharknadoes" by tossing bombs into them from a helicopter.
As Nova fights off a shark that had latched onto the helicopter, she falls out of the helicopter and directly into another shark's mouth. Matt is heartbroken. Baz is also lost in the storm along with two friends of Matt. Matt's bombing mission is ultimately successful — the sharknadoes dissipate, and the sharks begin to plummet toward the ground. After Matt lands his helicopter, a falling shark flies directly toward the remaining members of the group. Fin jumps into its mouth with a chainsaw and cuts his way out. He emerges carrying an unconscious but otherwise unharmed Nova. Matt is reunited with Nova and Fin gets back together with April.
Intentionally Bad Qualities
Editor's Note: Please keep in mind that the movie was made to be bad from start to finish, so it shouldn't be taken seriously.
- To get this cat out of its bag, the CGI for the Sharks, It's been known to be pretty terrible, making the effects for the sharks look very fake.
- Awful special effects.
- Quantity over Quality: even though the reception of the film was highly negative, it actually did recieved 5 sequels from released from 2014 to 2018.
- Bad editing. Some scenes are cloudy and storming in half the shots, only to be directly followed by sunny and pleasant shots despite the area being flooded by the storm.
- Bad acting, especially most for the cast as well.
- Low budget driving scenes. While Faz, Bin, and Nova are heading to the 405 Freeway, all of a sudden, the scene shows that they are driving in Roxas Ave. in Manila, the Philippines in the rain despite taking place in Los Angeles, California (as you can see The Philippines' Jeepney on the left shot)
- Laughable, extremely corny dialogue.
- The tagline. Enough said! This is very confusing and predictable.
- The character, Nova Clarke is very annoying, unlikeable, and has a cringy reaction to hearing that her boss has a family all because she wants to get together with him.
Good Qualities
- The premise about sharks in a tornado is extremely implausible, yet the people behind it cleverly managed to make it work.
- Finn is a likable character. Not to mention, him killing sharks with a chainsaw became iconic.
- Robbie Rist made a short cameo as a school bus driver before he ends up being killed by a single piece of Hollywood Sign ended up with his quote, "Hollywood will kill you!"
- The movie is deliberately very bad and isn't meant to be taken seriously, and has popularized the trend of so-bad-it's-good movies.
- The theme song is kinda catchy.
Reception
Despite being a cult film with some positive reviews, it still had multiple negative reviews. On the review aggression website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.12/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: "Proudly, shamelessly, and gloriously brainless, Sharknado redefines "so bad it's good" for a new generation."
Videos
External links
Sharknado at the Internet Movie Database
Sharknado on Letterboxd
Sharknado on Metacritic
Sharknado on Rotten Tomatoes