Either Hollywood has run out of ideas or it is tapping into a new genre of film with the release of Sharknado, a disaster movie that has moviegoers divided.
If the title did not spoil it for you, Sharknado is about a tornado hitting Los Angeles, flooding the streets with shark-infested waters and sucking up sharks into the skies and dropped to devour people. The only solution for the “sharknadoes” that are attacking the city is to drop bombs into them from helicopters, decided by the main characters. Sharknado seems to be the quintessential American film featuring bombs, killer animals, and a major city enveloped by action.
The Syfy Television Network and The Asylum produced the film and only planned for it to be aired on television. The combination of flying sharks, gore, bombs falling from helicopters, and the tagline “Enough said!” gained the movie popularity through commercials on Syfy, and social networkers questioned the films validity and plot appeal.
Sharknado was trending on Twitter with users inquiring how exactly a shark could end up inside a tornado. The controversy and curiosity of viewers urged Syfy to air the film three more times, receiving 2.1 million viewers and setting a record for most watched original film encore in the networks history. On July 27, Sharknado took the public by storm, only three weeks after it is original premier.
Sharknado, aside from its strange name, is a film with plot holes and novice acting. The effects are good, but the story is ridiculous and unrealistic. But maybe it is because of the flaws in the film or the lack of reality that has the viewers laugh or eye-roll at every turn.
Films such as Sharknado that consist mostly of CGI-animated effects, B-list actors like Tara Reid, and questionable titles are drawing in big crowds because of the action they offer and not the story.
The Transformers movie franchise directed by Michael Bay is ridiculed for being all show and no tell. The film features beautiful lead actors like Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf to draw in young viewers. Movie-making technology can now develop ultra-realistic robots, aliens, sea monsters, and tropical storms with only green screen and computer software. Underneath the glitter of these effects, is the movie still gold? Not according to Rotten Tomatoes, which gave Sharknado 57 per cent.
What is it about these movies that attract audiences? Sharknado, which played at The Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa just last weekend, is not the only film in this genre to be featured on the movie listing. Films such as Sharknado or Piranha 3D have moments of unbelievable circumstances, teeth-clenching action, and sometimes nudity with an underlying science fiction or supernatural theme. Fans of these films enjoy these elements to the films and take pleasure in complimenting or bashing it.
When it comes down to it, people enjoy the feeling of escape that comes from watching a film unfold. If viewers need to distract themselves from their lives with a tornado full of sharks, then why not embrace the campy movies and enjoy films for what they are made for: the adventure.