{2jtab: Movie Review}

Sharknado - Blu-ray Review

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5 stars

Sharknado is a magnificent joke; a really, really splendid joke of a bad movie.

Wait, your brain says, if it’s a joke then how is it worthy of all those stars?  How can it be considered perfect?  Because, dear reader, sometimes all it takes to save the day is a really, really bad movie that doesn’t bore you and keeps you entertained from beginning to end.  Sharknado is that movie.

If you don’t get the value of seriously “bad” movies or enjoy some major B-level creature features that are so much fun they are hard to hate (and I mean of the bottom of the barrel type), those five glorious stars will make little sense to you should you ever watch the movie expecting something on the level of a Steven Spielberg flick.

The truth is that Syfy’s Sharknado is an excellent attempt at an awful, awful movie and, to its credit, everyone involved knows the tone they need to deliver to make the film work.  And, damn if it doesn’t land every single one of its silly moments … to perfection.  In fact, it almost trumps Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space as the Citizen Kane of bad movies.  Almost.

One simply cannot deny the sheer entertainment value of the comedy – some intentional, some not – on display throughout Anthony C. Ferrante’s disaster flick.  Starring Tara Reed and Ian Ziering, Sharknado is what happens when the perfect storm makes itself known just off the Los Angeles coast and, as it makes landfall, starts raining sharks down upon the fleeing citizens of the city.

You read correctly.  It’s raining sharks.  Now we all know that Los Angeles is the city of ridiculousness but Sharknado’s premise takes the celebrated cake.  And you’ll eat all of it.  I swear you will.  Between Reed’s clueless line delivery and Ziering’s dunderheaded presence, the CGI sharks – swallowing people whole in mid-air – and the glorious miss-use of nature footage meshed against the busy city streets simply steal the show.

When it debuted on television, Sharknado helped Syfy earn some seriously strong ratings and, in its first five minutes, became the unexpected surprise summer hit.  Forget what was going down in the theaters.  Syfy was where the crowds were at.  Eventually, the Thunder Levin-penned movie was aired a total of three times and had Twitter accounts everywhere afire as audiences immediately started quoting some its awful and awfully funny lines.

The gore – while never explicit – is enough to keep the hounds a-barking and sniffing at the door.  In fact, while it was made for television, some of the kill scenes in Sharknado rival the care and set-up of any release backed by the major players in the film community.  They are well-established and full of toothy venom.

You’ll laugh.  You’ll cry.  You’ll watch it again and again because Sharknado is an insanely brilliant and unforgettable modern day cult classic.  Few films ever reach this level of awesomeness.  Fact.

{2jtab: Film Details}

Sharknado - Blu-ray ReviewMPAA Rating: This title has not been rated by the MPAA.
Runtime: 86 mins.
Director
: Anthony C. Ferrante
Writer: Thunder Levin
Cast: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, John Heard
Genre: Sci-fi | Horror
Tagline:
Enough Said!
Memorable Movie Quote: "We can't just wait here for sharks to rain down on us."
Distributor:
SyFy Channel
Official Site:
Release Date:
July 11, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
September 3, 2013

Synopsis: After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the areas new razor-toothed residents.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Sharknado - Blu-ray Review

Component Grades
Movie

Blu-ray Disc
5 Stars

3 stars



Blu-ray Experience
4

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - September 3, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Language
: English
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: Region-free

The 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer is a glorious ripe display of high-definition goodness...at times.  The image is fairly crisp, sometimes a step-up from the usual Blu-ray output of SyFy Channel films, but it occasionally sinks back to the same level.  Black levels are fairly weak and don’t hold shadow details too well.  Still, fine detail is quite good in most places, and the color palette can be extraordinarily vibrant.  A solid Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack supplies the audio for this release from The Asylum Home Entertainment.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • The commentary from the cast and crew is hilarious.  For the most part, they reveal their true intentions for the film.  Yes, it is a joke.  And have fun revealing some of the not-so-secret secrets of the making of the film.

Special Features:

The Blu-Ray contains a commentary track, gag reel and behind the scenes footage which all suggest the kind of movie the cast and crew were going for, and also confirms that they succeeded.  This is why Sharknado is a 5-star film.

  • The Making of Sharknado (15 min)
  • Gag Reel (7 min)
  • Trailer

{2jtab: Trailer}

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