Lake Placid 2 (Unrated)
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Movie Reviews of Lake Placid 2 (Unrated)
Movie Review: SyFy Movies Ain't All That Bad!
Summary: 5 Stars
I once decried all those quickie SyFy (nee Sci-Fi) movies. The overnight-written scripts, the over-the-weekend CGI effects, the second/third/fourth tier actors. Not sophisticated enough for erudite and discerning me. However, I found myself always tuning in to "the most dangerous night on television" to see the next big threat bested by a small gutsy band (hero, heroine, and several extras to be eaten/destroyed/immolated, etc). Why? As one of those Vietnam era vets, I cherished my weekends at the local drive-in in the 60's and 70's where, oddly enough, the same type of movies played. Back then it was men in rubber monster suits demolishing miniature sets, or men in rubber alien costumes carrying away beautiful kicking blonds, or men in rubber . . . well, you get the point. So, does a movie like "Lake Placid 2" remind me of my youth, or does it give me one more Saturday night to throw popcorn and laugh at the screen? Doesn't matter. I love this movie for the little pleasure it gives. Like hearing your favorite Christmas carol once a year. You roll your eyes and think "not that old song again," and when no one is looking you smile and sing along.Movie Review: Most people don't get this film.
Summary: 5 Stars
Most people watch this movie and expect a sci-fi drama flick. They are way off base. While the writers and directors may have intended to produce a sci-fi classic, they produced an accidental comedy, and its HILARIOUS. I wouldn't buy it, but I rewinded a few parts to laugh hysterically. Its fantastic. Instant classic.
The scene in which the guy gets his arm bitten off is comedy GOLD.
Movie Review: Worth checking out - ignore Alexander
Summary: 5 Stars
The film is not as good as the original but then again, this was made on 1/100 of the budget of the first one.
The film is fun, fast, and has a couple good scares. Cloris Leachman and Sam MacMurray steal the show.
Please note: the other reviewer gave NORBIT 4 starts, just to give you an idea of that person's taste.
"See ya' later alligator!"
Movie Review: A great guilty pleasure
Summary: 4 Stars
Due to a state of recent disappearances, Deputy James Riley, (John Schneider) is confronted with evidence of something monstrous in the lake, forcing his ex-wife Emma Warner, (Sarah Lafleur) a Wildlife agent, to show up as well. Deciding to search around the lake, they find a giant crocodile that attacks their boat. When professional hunter Struthers, (Sam McMurray) shows up due to the rumors and sets up camp to hunt the crocodile, he stocks up for a war with the beast. While they're fighting, James' son Scott Riley, (Justin Ulrich) and his friend Kerri, (Alicia Ziegler) along with some of their friends soon find that not only are they also attacked by the crocodile, there's a small family of them living in the lake and who all decide to gang up on the two groups of survivors stranded on the lake. Finally realizing what they're up against, they decide to work together to stop their rampage before more fall victim to them.
The Good News: This was actually a pretty good creature feature. One of the best things is that it plays up the previous knowledge and manages to expand upon it. The end of the previous one set-up the fact that babies had been born, and this one here is where the children come back and strike out against intruders as adults. The constant mention of characters and situations being brought up simply tie the events together, and a rather decent attempt is made to make the constant interaction in the forest look similar, ensuring another small bit of continuity. That includes the next great feature, the different crocodiles. This is one of the few films that has several individuals of the threat for the characters to get around. Having four crocs to deal with is a pretty clever move, allowing it to drop the tiresome "invincible creature" motif and actually make some semblance of reality when they can kill off one of the creatures early on without making it seem like the characters are out of danger or the crocs are weak. That itself is a really great idea no matter what the angle played. Another really smart move is to make the existence of the creatures known fairly early in the film, as it does here, allowing for a lot of croc screen-time and playing in to the option of letting one of the other ones take over if one is killed option that it uses since there's more than one. With it being fairly obvious to the characters about twenty minutes or so into the film that there's something huge and vicious in the lake, and for this to be obvious to them is quite nice, as the search for them leads to some really great scenes. The search for the first croc on the lake is a nice action highlight, as the different tactics used to try to slow it down make some nice little action scenes in it. There's even a little back-and-forth as the croc puts up a valiant struggle and manages to take out several vehicles of the police force before being brought down when it seemed like it would've been the police force which had the upper hand. The assault on the campground is one of the highlights, as there's a lot of action with the first couple traps and the ensuing attack is nicely handled. It gets to it's parts, though, when it goes for the jungle attacks, as the assaults on the stranded campers comprise so many great scenes and moments that there's a lot to like in them. Handled with great skill and even allowing some creepy moments to come into play, these are simply great and really make the movie, along with the first lake capture, and make this a really worthy sequel.
The Bad News: There isn't a lot here that isn't to like. One of the only points is that, as usual, the crocodiles and the gore are completely CGI and don't look even the slightest bit real. It's not that they look off or unrealistic, as they look remarkably close to what they're supposed to be. It's simply the fact that the tone and appearance of the creatures are quite obviously not there. It's a bit distracting to see that the main threat of the film isn't there, and as it's so easily apparent of this, there's very little confusion about whether or not the effects are CGI or not. It's actually impossible to feel any threat of the crocs due to this state, which is just a common problem that so many similar films have. That the gore, which should've been a big highlight isn't that shocking or revolting because of the CGI aspects is another flaw, and just look fake, especially since the crocs have so much screen-time to get to see all the fake-ness of their design. Beyond these, this is an enjoyable film, but they will make it hard for some to get into the film.
The Final Verdict: While not up to the level of the first one, it's still a reasonably entertaining creature feature. The worse that can be said about it is that it's computer graphics are quite obviously fake, yet real creature feature fans won't mind this one bit and have some fun with it, so this is really only recommended to those kinds of viewers. All others shouldn't.
Movie Review: One of the better 'crocogator' flicks -- better than the first one
Summary: 4 Stars
Within the creatures-on-the-loose genre exists the sub-category of crocogator flicks. Believe it or not, 2007's "Lake Placid 2" is one of the better entries in this genre. In my opinion it's more entertaining than the original 1999 film, which is hard to believe since this sequel went straight-to-dvd with a much lower budget (a mere $2 million compared to $27 million). Other than the budget and the cast "Lake Placid 2" is superior in practically every way:
- Although both films have a were-not-taking-this-too-seriously vibe, similar to "Crocodile" (2000) and "Alligator" (1980), "Lake Placid 2" is slightly more serious than the original, which scores points in my book (but, don't get me wrong, there are quite a few funny and campy parts, like the incredibly casual way the Ranger responds toward people who have just perished).
- The babes are both more numerous and hotter. One good example is Sarah Lafleur (Emma) and her dive into the water early in the picture.
- The Bulgarian locations are superior to British Columbia. Not that B.C. isn't gorgeous but the story takes place in New England and Bulgaria is simply a better stand-in for Maine. (If you're not sure where Bulgaria is, it's located in Southeastern Europe by the Black Sea).
- Although the cgi crocs may not look as good as the first film, the kills are better, if you're into that sort of thing.
- The story, which is very similar to the original, is all-around better for what it is (a Grade-B nature-runs-amok flick).
Although the cast may not be as A-list as the first film, they came up with a good group of people led by John Schneider (aka Bo Duke) and all have fine chemistry together; they obviously had a fun time making this picture. John is a fine leading man and perfect for these types of films. Incidentally, he was in his late forties during filming and still looks great -- does the man ever age?!
Other highlights include Sarah Lafleur's face and hair; she's so uniquely cute it's somehow enjoyable to just look at her. Also, there are some really laugh-out-loud moments, like the ranger's comment near the end regarding the recurring white bunny, as well as a certain quasi-villain whom I was just starting to really like, and then his head gets lopped off -- HA, HA!
There's not much else to say. If you're in the mood for a crocogator flick you can't go wrong with "Lake Placid 2". Yes, it's a low budget, direct-to-dvd release but it's quite entertaining for what it is and compares well with the other films of the genre. Don't give heed to the grumps who rate it so lowly; they're wrong. It's at least as good as "Crocodile" and "Alligator" and in many ways better than the original "Lake Placid."
GRADE: B