Sharknado: So bad it's fun to watch
By: Cameron Biddle
Shark movies suck nowadays. Ever since Jaws was released 1975 to near universal praise by critics, people have tried to bank off its success, with them ranging from pretty good (The Reef) to straight up awful (Shark Night). Around 2010, writers and directors threw all logic and reason out the window and started releasing over-the-top, ridiculous shark films like Sand Sharks and 2-Headed Shark Attack. Obviously,movies like these didn’t get any attention.
However, during the summer a made-for-TV movie called Sharknado premiered on Syfy and became a big hit. Normally I would ignore a TV movie, but this one was just too popular to pass up, so let’s jump into Sharknado, directed by Anthony C. Hall.
When a giant tornado hits Los Angeles, it picks up and launches several sharks into the city and floods it, it is up to bar owner Fin (Ian Ziering), his ex-wife April (Tara Reid), his friends Nova (Cassie Screebo) and Baz (Jaason Simmons), and his children Matt (Chuck Hittinger) and Claudia (Aubrey Peeples) to destroy more incoming “sharknadoes”. Do I even need to say what makes the plot silly? It’s a movie about tornadoes with sharks in them.
There is really no need to go into detail about why it’s stupid. Aside from that problem, the acting is nothing special either, except for Tara Reid, who is really bad in this movie. She shows almost no emotion when on-screen, even during the shark attacks. I mean, I know it’s a B movie, but could she at least show some kind of an emotion. The graphics are really bad in this, which can only be expected from a TV movie. The CGI in this film just makes the shark attacks look silly and laughable instead of scary or thrilling. One positive about this movie is that it is so ridiculously over the top that it is hilarious at times. Whether it be a shark being chopped in half down the middle or one being cut open from the inside, it is just gore filled madness that will make you laugh.
Considering the plot (and just the name Sharknado) you would probably assume critics would tear this movie to pieces. Well, not
only do critics not hate this movie, but according to Rotten Tomatoes, Sharknado holds and 80% approval rating. Out of the fifteen critics that submitted reviews, twelve of them (four of which are considered the top critics on the site) gave it a positive review. By the websites rating system, this movie is considered better than Gladiator, a film that won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2000. These reviews are mostly praising how bad it is enjoyable and fun to watch, but that is still really high for a film like this.
So, is Sharknado a good movie? No. Does it deserve an 80% rating? Not even close. Is it a lot of fun to watch? Absolutely. This is pretty much a movie where you just need to shut your brain off for an hour and enjoy the silliness. So if you’re just looking for a film that is so horrendously bad that it is really fun to watch, then Sharknado is definitely the movie you’re looking for. Just don’t take it too seriously.
However, during the summer a made-for-TV movie called Sharknado premiered on Syfy and became a big hit. Normally I would ignore a TV movie, but this one was just too popular to pass up, so let’s jump into Sharknado, directed by Anthony C. Hall.
When a giant tornado hits Los Angeles, it picks up and launches several sharks into the city and floods it, it is up to bar owner Fin (Ian Ziering), his ex-wife April (Tara Reid), his friends Nova (Cassie Screebo) and Baz (Jaason Simmons), and his children Matt (Chuck Hittinger) and Claudia (Aubrey Peeples) to destroy more incoming “sharknadoes”. Do I even need to say what makes the plot silly? It’s a movie about tornadoes with sharks in them.
There is really no need to go into detail about why it’s stupid. Aside from that problem, the acting is nothing special either, except for Tara Reid, who is really bad in this movie. She shows almost no emotion when on-screen, even during the shark attacks. I mean, I know it’s a B movie, but could she at least show some kind of an emotion. The graphics are really bad in this, which can only be expected from a TV movie. The CGI in this film just makes the shark attacks look silly and laughable instead of scary or thrilling. One positive about this movie is that it is so ridiculously over the top that it is hilarious at times. Whether it be a shark being chopped in half down the middle or one being cut open from the inside, it is just gore filled madness that will make you laugh.
Considering the plot (and just the name Sharknado) you would probably assume critics would tear this movie to pieces. Well, not
only do critics not hate this movie, but according to Rotten Tomatoes, Sharknado holds and 80% approval rating. Out of the fifteen critics that submitted reviews, twelve of them (four of which are considered the top critics on the site) gave it a positive review. By the websites rating system, this movie is considered better than Gladiator, a film that won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2000. These reviews are mostly praising how bad it is enjoyable and fun to watch, but that is still really high for a film like this.
So, is Sharknado a good movie? No. Does it deserve an 80% rating? Not even close. Is it a lot of fun to watch? Absolutely. This is pretty much a movie where you just need to shut your brain off for an hour and enjoy the silliness. So if you’re just looking for a film that is so horrendously bad that it is really fun to watch, then Sharknado is definitely the movie you’re looking for. Just don’t take it too seriously.