2013 sequel to one of the best bad movies ever
Bad Movie Rating: 5/5 (Amy: 2/5; Libby: 3/5; Fred: 5/5; Josh: 5/5)
Rating: 3/20
Plot: Birds attack people again, just like in the first movie. Except this time, they're joined by zombies and cavepeople.
I've had a Birdemic 2 t-shirt for a couple years and finally got to see the film. It's tough for a sequel to be as good as the original. This one's just as awkward with it's unearthly pacing, unnatural high fives, and tacky music. There are enough nods to the first movie to make you wonder if James Nguyen, self-proclaimed "Master of the Romantic Thriller," is in on the joke. There are a few minor characters from the first movie that pop in this one to deliver poorly-written lines. And that's right, coathangers. I saw your appearance. The zombies are a nice touch although their appearance doesn't make sense, and those cavepeople are laughably stupid. Our structure is virtually identical to the structure of the first movie. It almost feels like you could lay this movie on top of Birdemic: Shock and Terror and blend it into one coherent movie. Well, one movie that's just as coherent. Things start slowly with characters celebrating success in not-so-humble ways, romance is awkwardly developed, high fives are given, there's a lengthy driving sequence, and then birds start attacking and exploding. Those comfortable with the first movie will find comfort here as the cadence is pretty much the same.
There are a handful of new characters and a pair of new leads although fans of Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore from the first movie (and really, how could a person not be a fan of Whitney Moore?) will be happy to see that they have large roles. Moore's mom also returns for a scene and has a likely-improvised line that might describe the whole movie. Tree huggers ("Trees are cut down to make toilet paper! We haven't used toilet paper in many years.") and a scientist, beloved from the first movie, also pop in to help Nguyen push his environmental agenda, clumsily but majestically. Oh, and Damien Carter's back with a musical interlude for this one.
Speaking of Nguyen, you have to wonder if references to classic cinema mean that the man actually feels he belongs in the same echelon as your Hitchcocks and Wilders. There are numerous references to Sunset Boulevard including an ending--"ending" is used liberally here since this movie doesn't really end as much as it does stop--that directly and obviously alludes to that movie. I didn't get it the first time though. And that's right--I saw this movie twice. I've watched a handful of movies during my hiatus, but this one I somehow caught more than once. Nguyen also makes his Hitchcockian cameo because, honestly, it's not like he's not going to do one.
Early on, it seems Nguyen has replaced the heavyhanded environmental message with some heavyhanded themes about independent filmmaking. That at least makes it feel as if he's trying to make something that he wants us to take seriously, but I still don't know. I'd love to think that the two cameramen I spotted in mirrors, one during your typically-Nguyenesque sex-with-clothes-on scene, were accidental, but who's to know? Anyway, Nguyen's wearing "Indie Filmmaker" like a badge, and you're almost forced to disrespect him for that.
Highlights: An extended date montage which might be the most boring montage ever committed to film, one where everybody else's face is blurred because they apparently didn't sign waivers; cartoon jellyfish, a cartoon ambulance, fake driving, raining blood, eagles being split in two, fake blood, and zombies that once again show Nguyen's brilliance in creating realistic special effects on a next-to-nothing budget; hilariously bad sound, especially the fake crowd noise piped in, although it's honestly probably better than it was in the first movie; Colton Osborne's work as adopted son Tony, bad acting that manages to stand out in a movie filled with inept performances; caveman sex; roundhouse kicks; characters who say "so-and-so is dead" no less than a hundred times in a five minute chunk of this movie. There's plenty to see here, and I'm happy that although I was skeptical going in, this is a good-bad follow-up to one of my favorite good-bad movies ever.
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