Who let the sharks out? Well, Sharknado may have jumped the shark, pun intended, with its latest summer time foray with Sharknado: The 4th Awakens. I will say, the Star Wars references do not begin or end with the title alone. There is an opening scroll that gives us the audience a cliff note explanation of where we currently are when story opens up. Warning, spoilers ahead…
The one thing these series of films has going for them is that they don’t take themselves seriously. What started out as a typical SyFy channel over-the-top movie of the week, has turned into a cult following and part of our lexicon now. With that said, this fourth installment goes beyond its normal sense of absurdity and that’s saying a lot given the premise of this series.
Set five years after Sharknado 3, the shark-tornado issue is a thing of the past thanks to billionaire Aston Reynolds (Tommy Davidson) who developed a stabilizing system through his Tech company Astro-X, to keep this issue under control. To celebrate, Reynolds opens Shark World, a Vegas hotel. What could possibly go wrong? A sandstorm. Yup, a sandstorm develops and is destroying everything in its path which includes Shark World and its hundreds of sharks. Yikes! Well, thank the heavens Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) happens to be visiting with his cousin Gemini (Masiela Lusha) who planned on meeting up with his son Matt (Cody Linley). Of course, Fin and Co. save the day but he knows this is only the beginning. Fin soon travels to Niagara Falls to figure out what has happened and how can the sharknado be stopped yet again.
As you may recall at the end of Sharknado 3 the fate of April (Tara Reid) was left in the balance when debris of a spaceship came crashing down. Given the movie poster and the countless promotion of part four by Reid, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that she survived. She is more bionic than human thanks in large part to her scientist father played by Gary Busey. And just when you thought they couldn’t surprise us with any more gadgets, April even has her own lightsaber that shoots out of her bionic hand to combat the sharks. At least the creative minds behind this franchise are having fun.
Honestly, how Fin and April save the day once again is beyond comprehension and to mind numbing to explain. Fans of this series and I count myself as one watches to see just how bad and outrageous this series will take us. It’s just as outrageous as watching Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th film series who simply cannot die no matter what is done to him. It’s pure escapism. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Of course what is a Sharknado film without the countless appearances of dare I say C or maybe even D-List celebrities. Besides Hasselhoff and Busey who are neither A or B at this point in their careers, we have Cheryl Teigs, Wayne Newton, Baywatch alums Alexandra Paul and Gena Lee Nolin, Motley Crew front man Vince Neil, Carrot Top and the one and only Adrian Zmed. There were others from Dancing with the Stars and appropriately Shark Tank but at a certain point, one either doesn’t care anymore or losses count.
In the end, as a friend of mine said shortly after the ending credits rolled and the likelihood of a fifth film was all but confirmed, was that a good 80% of this movie was comprised of one-liners and inside jokes from other films. Normally, people would be upset by such a notion but not here. If anything, it’s what we’ve come to expect and look for and that’s okay. Citizen Kane this is not.
Directed by: Anthony C. Ferrante
Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, David Hasselhoff, Masiela Lusha, Cheryl Teigs, Cody Linley and an endless amount of celebrity guest stars
NR 95 Mins
SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS – **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
