Product: Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
Rating: 4.0
Better Than Watching the Sound of Music More Than Four Times
Airplane II: The Sequel is a funny film, though it is only a shadow of the original. Whereas the first Airplane! was a spoof of the 70s disaster movie, the sequel sends up science fiction, with a particular emphasis on 2001: A Space Odyssey, with some Star Trek thrown in thanks to the welcome addition of William Shatner.Airplane II succeeds in places where most sequels, particularly sequels of spoofs, fail. It does not simply recycle the gags from the previous film, although there are a few moments such as the recurrence of Ted Striker (Robert Hays)'s drinking problem that are lifted directly from the original. Airplane II stays close to its disaster roots by having a computer kill off the crew, leaving Striker to try to save the day and win back Elaine (Julie Hagerty). Shakespeare it's not, but enough of a plot is there to keep this from just being a collection of one-liners and sight gags.The larger problem is that there is a little too much plot and that some of the jokes are dated or simply no longer funny. The Rocky poster and the Japanese couple with dozens of cameras were probably funny when this film was released in 1982, but with the decline of Sly and the end of ethnic stereotype as comedy, these bits fall a bit flat. Similarly, the comedy inherent in having Sonny Bono as the bumbling terrorist is lost when you are working with a generation that thinks of Bono as the late Congressman from California.The problem of sparsely spaced-out gags is probably a result of the cut. Some of my favorite scenes, such as McCrosky (Lloyd Bridges) being hospitalized because he thinks he's Lloyd Bridges, have been cut out. Similarly, Leslie Nielson, a star in the first film, is not in Airplane II at all and the role of Johnny (Steven Strucker) is greatly reduced. On the other hand, this cut restores some racy scenes from the original. While this makes the film funnier for the adult audience, the restored comedy makes this more of a PG 13 than the PG rating it originally received.Those complaints aside, Airplane II is still a good film. The acting by Hays and Hagerty is as dynamic and funny as it was the first time around; I'm still mystified why neither had a big career after this series. Peter Graves, Bridges and Shatner all shine in their roles, and there are solid supporting performances from Raymond Burr, John Vernon, and Rip Torn.Like the first film, Airplane II also has plenty of sight gags in the background, ranging from a nurse with an `I love sanity' outfit to a drug deal gone bad in Mission Control. If you are like me, you will have to watch and listen carefully to get all of the jokes; it took me forever to figure out the joke behind a reporter `getting a picture for the Daily News.' A director's commentary, or at least a pop-up video version, of this film would have been a nice addition, but sadly this is a basic DVD with nothing besides language options and the trailer.The bottom line is that while Airplane II isn't the original and it isn't family entertainment, it is good comedy and well worth the time spent watching.