So I give the side-eye to Pokemon Go aficionados while I take to ... Sharknado.
I'm not sure how this one sneaked up on me. I was one of the main people who'd become critical of the stupid movies on the Syfy channel, many of which involved monsters made up of giant, genetically fused animals ... Dinoshark, Sharktopus, Dinocroc (vs. Supergator), Piranhaconda, Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf ... you get the drift. These movies ask viewers to suspend their (A) disbelief; (B) good taste; (C) human dignity; (D) sanity; (E) any penchant for fine thespianism; and (F) distaste of very, very bad computer-generated imagery. These movies also seem to feature actors who are either unknown, in the twilight of their careers, in a temporary slump or simply in want/need of some quick chump change, usually earned by playing a character that quickly gets killed off. I came to scornfully think of these movies as Made-for-Syfy, filmed-in-a-day, lead-actor-made-$500-if-he-was-lucky pieces of dung.
Then came the Sharknado movies, thanks to a film studio appropriately named The Asylum and starring less-than-A-list actors Ian Ziering, playing a bar owner named ... Fin, and Tara Reid, playing his ex-wife, April. The latest installment, Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, made its debut July 31.
Debuting in 2013, Sharknado depicted some very carnivorous sharks that were unleashed in Los Angeles thanks to a waterspout that displaced them. It was with a then-jaded eye that I watched this flick, which involved a lot of people being instantly chewed up by flying sharks; a bit of shark-carving with chainsaws; midair shenanigans involving helicopters and jerry-rigged bombs; and people ending up inside sharks but miraculously emerging whole. Sharknado 2: The Second One, which emerged in 2014, was set in New York, involving and enhanced by the appearance of (somewhat) bigger-name celebs Vivica A. Fox, Judd Hirsch, Billy Ray Cyrus and Sandra "Pepa" Denton of Salt-N-Pepa rap duo fame.
By the time Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! came along July 22 of last year, I was hooked. Especially since the sharknados hit in the very Florida spots where I was to vacation the following month. Bo Derek, David Hasselhoff, hip-hop singer Ne-Yo and author Jackie Collins were among the folks playing themselves or fictional characters. Heard of a water birth? This is the one in which a human baby comes forth via midair shark birth. I was among the minions who tweeted their commentaries throughout the movie and voted on whether April, who appeared to be meeting her doom at the end of this movie, should live or die.
This newest offering cuts swaths through Las Vegas and just about everywhere else in the country that has a destroy-able famous landmark. It throws in a few extra types of 'nado and borrows from such literary works as King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table and The Wizard of Oz. The list of notable celebs includes Gary Busey (of course), Tommy Davidson, Cheryl Tiegs, Gilbert Gottfried (also of course), Wayne Newton, Dog the Bounty Hunter and, making return appearances, the Today show's Al Roker and Natalie Morales. April comes back as a cyborg. Characters you want to stay alive, die. Characters you thought were dead/wish were dead, aren't. And there's an Oscar-worthy demonstration of how the marine-life food chain works.
Why did Sharknado capture the imagination of so many? Probably because of its uber-campy brand of comic relief that, these days, can be considered badly needed. Life in so many ways has come to imitate bad made-for-TV art. Really, really zany art is the perfect escapism.
Shockingly, not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. "Sharknado jumps the shark -- please, Syfy, no more," blares an online headline from Cnet.com. "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens proves it's time to put this franchise to sleep," trumpets a headline at avclub.com. Um, somebody took the movie franchise seriously enough to write a review saying it needed to end? And how many Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers movies were there again?
Though I hesitate to formally urge people to watch the Sharknado movies, they serve to remind me that we all need not only to stop and smell the roses, we also need a bit of nonsense here and there to lighten this load called life.
I just hope the next sequel won't be Sharknado vs. Pokemon.
Mailnado!
hwilliams@arkansasonline.com
Style on 08/07/2016