‘Sharknado 5: Global Swarming’

Yes it’s true, the Sharknado franchise has just released its fifth film, and shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

Starting way back in 2013, the series premise is a simple one: sharks get sucked into a tornado and wreak havoc around various locations, which until now have been limited to mainland USA. Now the Sharknados have gone global.

The opening sees Fin Shepard called away to Stonehenge from London, where he is about to speak to NATO (headed up by Nichelle Nichols aka Star Trek’s Starfleet Officer Uhura) regarding the Sharknado crisis. Nova, who Fin presumed had given up shark hunting, has discovered that Sharknados are not a recent phenomenon, but rather our ancient ancestors had been victim to them as well. This leads into a brilliant Indiana Jones homage, with what’s presumably Indy’s hat, whip, and the line from Fin,

“Sharks. Why’s it always gotta be sharks?”

Shortly after Fin and Nova return to London and Fin and April’s youngest son Gil is promptly sucked up by a Sharknado while under the care of Nova. Without giving too much away (you really need to watch this, Sharknado 5 is easily the best in the series so far and yes we mean that), the trio set off on a quest to rescue him, travelling all over the world by way of vortexes inside the Sharknado itself. With action from the main cast taking place in international locations Tokyo, Sydney, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, and London, as well as filming in Bulgaria and the US – the film literally goes where no Sharknado film has gone before.

The number of cameos has increased dramatically as well, with over a hundred, including appearances by Fabio as The Pope; Olivia Newton-John and her daughter Chloe Lattanzi as Orion and Electra, of the Sharknado Sisterhood; UK TV presenters Kate Garraway, Laura Tobin, and Charlotte Hawkins, and their Australian counterparts, Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic; skateboarding star Tony Hawk; Olympic diver Tom Daley and swimmer Greg Louganis; UK glamour model Katie Price and reality stars Clay Aiken (American Idol), Abby Lee Miller (Dance Moms), Luisa Zissman, and Louie Spence. The film also saw the return of fan favourites Al Roker, Gilbert Gottfried, and of course, Irish pop duo Jedward, who have progressed from playing themselves in SN3, then “Astro Techs” in SN4, and now in their third cameo, stoners Cameron and Mick, sampling the wares of an Amsterdam marijuana farm while a “Potnado” appeared in front of them.

https://twitter.com/planetjedward/status/894676528583196672

There’s also a very pivotal cameo from Dolph Lundgren…but you’ll have to watch to find out more about that.

The Sharknado films have never pretended to be anything they’re not, and that’s the beauty of them. They take the viewer out of their reality and drop them smack bang into a crazy alternative universe where anything can happen and most likely will. The end of Sharknado 5 left us in no doubt that there is certainly room in our lives for a sixth (and more) film in the franchise, and we even go so far as to say along with Fin Shepard, “semper paratus”! We’re always prepared for a Sharknado.

‘Sharknado 5: Global Swarming’ was directed by Anthony C Ferrante, and written by Scotty Mullen from characters by Thunder Levin. It stars Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, and Cassie Scerbo. Sharknado 5: Global Swarming’ was made by The Asylum for Syfy.