Movie Night: Airplane II: The Sequel.

Review #698: Airplane II: The Sequel.

Cast
Robert Hays (Ted Striker), Julie Hagerty (Elaine Dickinson), Lloyd Bridges (Steve McCroskey), Chad Everett (Simon Kurtz), Peter Graves (Captain Clarence Oveur), William Shatner (Commander Buck Murdock), Rip Torn (Bud Kruger), John Dehner (The Commissioner), Chuck Connors (The Sarge), Richard Jaeckel (Controller #2), Stephen Stucker (Jacobs / Courtroom Clerk), and Sonny Bono (Joe Seluchi) Directed by Ken Finkleman.

Review
If you pretend the first movie doesn't exist, the movie would have a shot at being okay. But because we can't just pretend movies don't exist (contrary to popular belief), Airplane II: The Sequel is proof that some movies should have just stayed dead and buried. The first movie stands as a fun spoof that manages to utilize its surroundings and make for a wonderfully awesome movie. The second movie tries way too hard in some places while trying too little in others, which all boils down to a breeze of a movie that makes you yearn for the first film again. While it's true that some of the original cast comes back, it doesn't really make the movie all too better, given that it lacks Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack, who made the original even more enjoyable with their portrayals. It's strange that this sets place in the "near future", yet the characters haven't seemed to age a bit. Oh yeah, and there's a lunar base on the moon and commercial space travel. 33 years later, and we have neither of those things, nor do we have Rocky XXXVII. The gags for the movie are okay, but they also reuse gags as well (not to mention using flashbacks to the first film), which only reminds me as well as you what you're missing out on. The best character in the movie is only there for the last quarter of the movie, and naturally is played by William Shatner, who amuses me with his talk of the blinking, beeping, flashing lights, or maybe it's because by the end of the movie you're wishing Captain Kirk would save these idiots. What amuses me is the post-credit scene "announcing" Airplane III, composted with a line of "That's exactly what they'll be expecting us to do!", because there never was an Airplane III, and I can't imagine why. I think you already know the answer to that one. Give yourself a round of applause. And don't watch this movie, unless you like stoic disappointment.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.