Product: Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996)
Rating: 3.0
Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996)
Director: S.S. WilsonCast: Fred Ward, Christopher Gartin, Helen Shaver, Michael Gross, Marcelo Tubert, Marco Hernandez.Running Time: 100 minutesRated PG-13 for science-fiction creature violence, gore, and some language.Years after his original adventures, Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) has been screwed out of many of the royalties from the games etc generated from his discovery of the `grabzoids' and now runs a small emu farm; however, spottings of the beasts in Mexico get him and his eager new assistant Grady (Christopher Gartin) employed at $50,000 per beast to kill them and open up a new oil field. All goes well until they find that they are dealing with significant numbers of the beasts and turn to old friend Burt (another humorus role from "Family Ties" Michael Gross) for support. While the original "Tremors: was a great film that harked back to the old B-movie creature features and was, in a nutshell, an especially fun film to watch. "Tremors II: Aftershocks" is no classic, but it manages to keep the audience sustained and moderately entertained with its tongue-in-cheek script and likable cast. The plot is stretched to get Earl back on the hunt, but it is suitable after that, or at least as good as it needs to be.Although not as entertaining and funny as the original, "Aftershocks" is all still good fun and manages to keep much of the spirit of the original by not taking itself too seriously. Gartin, as Kevin Bacon's replacement from the original, is annoying as some sort of slacker but the self mocking jokes at his expense help ingratiate him to me. Shaver is a poor replacement for the female role but it is good to have Gross back in a funny role. The film is a little more effects focused this time which weakens it slightly. It also is a lot more gory, in an unpleasant way at times, which took away from the feeling of it all being a bit of fun. Overall this is not as good as the fun, free-wheeling original but it is still enjoyable enough to overlook the weaknesses and give it a go.