The first time Sharknado struck on the Syfy Network, I followed along vicariously through Twitter. Because of the waves it made I was even inspired to start my own Syfy Original Movie Marathon. UponSharknado's first of many repeating airings I finally caught up with this "storm of the century" hoping its camp and instant cult status would push it above and beyond the rest of the films in my marathon. And though I was eventually underwhelmed, I did have a good time riding out the storm.
The film takes place in southern California where Hurricane David is about to unleash havoc on the populace. The news alerts us that global warming is to blame, although a local man assures us the government is behind it.
Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) owns a bar on the Santa Monica pier. When the hurricane hits the coast, California is rocked by what can only be called explosive flooding and "...unsubstantiated reports of sharks swimming in the streets and falling from the sky." Luckily Fin is quite the boy scout. Semper Paratus is his motto and he's "always ready" to the point of his truck having an ample supply of shotgun shells and rappelling gear. That's fortunate since there's a bus load of kids to save and a retirement home full of elderly citizens who need him as well.
The rappelling scene is one of my favorite unintentionally funny moments. Fin rappels off a bridge to rescue a school bus full of kids that is surrounded by water up to its windows. As Fin drops down we can see the supposedly flooded streets below which are in reality bone dry and even have a few cars driving by in the background. Along with the scenes shot for the movie there's a lot of stock footage used of flooding and storms which gives a lovely Ed Wood feel to the proceedings.
We do spend too much time in Fin's truck driving around with the windshield wipers on which only serves to slow things down. There's even a low budget car chase a lot like the one in Mega Piranha where the pursuer and pursuee are never on screen at the same time. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work here either.
But my biggest disappointment was that there wasn't enough Sharknados in the film. In fact, there are not even any tornadoes until more than halfway through the picture. Granted, that doesn't mean sharks aren't being tossed about eating people at will from the beginning, but they're being thrown by the high winds of a hurricane, or a Sharkicane if you will. It isn't until three water spouts form and then come inland that the film really lives up to its title.
Naturally, these are no ordinary sharks, nor is it simply one species. Something has happened that has made all the sharks hyper aggressive and willing to travel together in a pack. (Come to think of it, maybe the government does have a hand in this.) Even before the storm begins they are in a frenzy and have no problem nabbing sailors off a boat or swiping surfers off their surfboards.
Sharknado's most distracting problem is the film's coloring. It's in bad need of some color correction. Shots within the same scene differ wildly in look, going from gray to sunny to sepia toned in the blink of an edit.
But Sharknado won't be remembered for its faults. We'll remember the scene when a shark bites the roof of Fin's car and the car explodes as a result. Or when Fin dives headfirst with a chainsaw into the gaping mouth of great white. And we'll want even bigger more crazier stuff when Sharknado 2 hits New York City sometime in 2014. So though it's not the best Syfy Original Film I've seen, it is the one that got me to start watching them, and has brought more attention to the network as well, and that has to be worth something.
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