Airplane II: The Sequel 4K 1982

The sequel to the cult classic parody film Airplane! was not directed by Zucker and Abrahams. Ken Finkleman decided to cash in on the popular theme and cobbled together a sequel that turned out to be significantly weaker than the original. No, the film is very funny, but it lacks the element of surprise that the first one had.

The first film was simply overwhelming with its barrage of uncontrollable jokes and gags that poured out of the Zucker brothers' heads like a cornucopia. Here, however, there is a certain tension in the parody scenes; in other words, the film was made not from the heart, but with purely commercial considerations in mind. In addition, it is practically a clone of the original - the same setting, the same characters, the same jokes, the same atmosphere, the same parodied films. It feels like it's not a sequel, but just a montage of scenes that didn't make it into the first part, but that's not the case - both the screenwriter and the director are different.

The cast also suffered somewhat. Leslie Nielsen, who so pleasantly offset the idiotic fun of the first film with his unyielding seriousness, disappeared from the film. Nielsen refused to appear in the sequel out of solidarity with the Zucker brothers, and was partly replaced by Lloyd Bridges, but this time he was given very little screen time. Julia Hagerty and Robert Hayes remained, but they are rather weak actors, so they did not surprise anyone in particular.

Incidentally, the Zucker brothers themselves were extremely angry with Finkleman for his arbitrariness with their film and still ignore the existence of the second Airplane, but viewers do not ignore it...

After all, the film was still a success - there are a lot of memorable jokes and quotes, as well as purely physical gags. Finkleman managed to catch the Zucker wave and did a good job of imitating them, so there's no reason to criticize him. With each episode, with each scene, the amount of humor increases, and by the end of the film, it flows continuously, reaching almost the level of the first film.

This witty parody, although speculating on the name of the first Airplane, turned out to be quite worthy. It can definitely be counted among the classics of the genre!