Everyone knows the story of James Cameron's involvement in Piranha 2 by now. He famously clashed with and was fired by producer Ovidio Assonitis who served as uncredited co-director. Whatever the circumstances, Piranha 2 is much better made than it has any right to be. Unlike many films of its pedigree and era, the film is both aware of how silly its premise is while simultaneously not devolving into lame genre parody. A fine line only occasionally visible to hold up a flying killer fish.
The film stars Tricia O'Neil as Anne, a married diving instructor estranged from her policeman husband, Steve, who loses a client one day to an unknown tragedy in a sunken ship. Anne and her horny son, Chris, who works as a deckhand for visitors to the coastal community. All three members of the family get plenty of screen time to develop their personalities as surly lovers and parents to a chipper joker teen. We never learn why Anne and Steve are separated but the film hints it has to do with their stubbornness. It is refreshing to see a female main character with agency both in the plot and in her sexual choices (there is a very funny scene with Steve) who never needs to be rescued and talks back to the men. Chris goes on to star in his own Blue Lagoon subplot with an alcoholic client's super hot daughter.
After the body of the dead tourist is discovered, Anne learns that mutated piranhas have been let loose. These fish have the ability to fly and love to munch on people's necks. If you think this is similar to Alien's facehuggers, you'd be right. The film's monsters are rubber dolls that cover their victims in blood and viscera. This special effect is so much more impressive than in the first film where we barely see any interaction between the victims and the piranhas.
What's even more impressive is that the film doesn't have disposable victims. Most of the main death scenes involve characters who have established themselves as jerks we root against. It's satisfying to see the two girls who trick a handicapped man into stealing food for them die. It's equally as sad to see a fisherman's son die when the fisherman has been established as the lovable crazy dude who throws dynamite all over the ocean.
The film has to end and does with a final underwater sequence in the sunken ship. These sequences look like they were shot by James Cameron. They are well lighted and the actors move well through the maze of the ship. The piranhas even attack people underwater and we don't get some cutaway shot or first person view.
Piranha 2 has a number of subplots like Chris's romance that only exist to be funny and for the most part they are. None of these are unique although their inclusion is welcome to fill the screen time. The delivery of lines is sometimes unintentionally funny due to dubbing but the jokes would be entertaining in any setting. I'll happily take sitcom humor in place of boring sex scenes or superfluous dialog about the creation of the monsters.
The film stars Tricia O'Neil as Anne, a married diving instructor estranged from her policeman husband, Steve, who loses a client one day to an unknown tragedy in a sunken ship. Anne and her horny son, Chris, who works as a deckhand for visitors to the coastal community. All three members of the family get plenty of screen time to develop their personalities as surly lovers and parents to a chipper joker teen. We never learn why Anne and Steve are separated but the film hints it has to do with their stubbornness. It is refreshing to see a female main character with agency both in the plot and in her sexual choices (there is a very funny scene with Steve) who never needs to be rescued and talks back to the men. Chris goes on to star in his own Blue Lagoon subplot with an alcoholic client's super hot daughter.
After the body of the dead tourist is discovered, Anne learns that mutated piranhas have been let loose. These fish have the ability to fly and love to munch on people's necks. If you think this is similar to Alien's facehuggers, you'd be right. The film's monsters are rubber dolls that cover their victims in blood and viscera. This special effect is so much more impressive than in the first film where we barely see any interaction between the victims and the piranhas.
What's even more impressive is that the film doesn't have disposable victims. Most of the main death scenes involve characters who have established themselves as jerks we root against. It's satisfying to see the two girls who trick a handicapped man into stealing food for them die. It's equally as sad to see a fisherman's son die when the fisherman has been established as the lovable crazy dude who throws dynamite all over the ocean.
The film has to end and does with a final underwater sequence in the sunken ship. These sequences look like they were shot by James Cameron. They are well lighted and the actors move well through the maze of the ship. The piranhas even attack people underwater and we don't get some cutaway shot or first person view.
Piranha 2 has a number of subplots like Chris's romance that only exist to be funny and for the most part they are. None of these are unique although their inclusion is welcome to fill the screen time. The delivery of lines is sometimes unintentionally funny due to dubbing but the jokes would be entertaining in any setting. I'll happily take sitcom humor in place of boring sex scenes or superfluous dialog about the creation of the monsters.