Review of Sharknado (2013) by Daniel L — 20 Aug 2013

The Asylum, the studio responsible for Sharknado, have been making films for years. It's probably fair to say that they haven't been making many good film. Their version of Transformers (Transmorphers) and their take on this year's Pacific Rim (Atlantic Rim) appear to have been made with the intention of fooling short sighted old folk into buying what they think is a bargain blockbuster for their grand children at Christmas. Most of the time though, The Asylum's films pass by relatively unnoticed, existing mainly to be laughed about in disbelieve by slightly drunken geeks down the pub. One though seems to have found it's way into mainstream consciousness now, and that title is Sharknado.

The fact it isn't just a loosely based rip off has surely helped with this, along with the kind of title that you'd expect to find gracing the cover of an '80s hair metal album, Sharknado has become one of the most curious, must see movies of the year.

A freak hurricane begins picking up sharks and as it descends upon Los Angeles, deposits it's teethy cargo upon an unsuspecting city. Meanwhile, former surfing champion, Fin (Ian Ziering) tries to get his estranged family to safety with the help of his beach side bar staff before they all get eaten. It's not every day you see a film about sharks flying out of a hurricane and really, you wouldn't want to.

Make no mistake, Sharknado is not a good film. It is a very bad film which is unintentionally hilarious at times. What you have to admit though is that it tries. It tries really hard.

Everyone in the film seems to be taking it all very seriously. You might expect the cast to not make that much of an effort as surely they know they're not in a film that's going to be troubling any award ceremonies but everyone really gives it their all. Cassie Scerbo as the girl with the shark issues but knows how to blast them to pieces with a shot gun, is a prime example. How she can tell the story of the shark attack which left her without a grandfather and not crack up takes a real skill. Even Tara Reid seems to be intent on not spoiling the illusion. Granted, she's had so much surgery now that she can't make a facial expression but she's not bad.

The action is massively OTT but it's only because of the budget constraints that it looks so terrible. You may be thinking that Sharknado is going to enjoy life as a guilty pleasure but that's probably a little hopeful. At the end of the day, it's a dumb idea that can't really fill a movie and at even less than an hour and half, the film feels like a long slog.

Despite everyone's best efforts, Sharknado is entirely predictable, not at all thrilling or scary and just not a good film. It's going to survive the next few months as something of a novelty but that'll soon die off and folk will wonder why they were so desperate to see it.