The Tremors II Aftershocks
jarrlarThe Tremors II: Aftershocks
http://urllio.com/r2bwoBattling a life depression, Earl Bassett is offered a job as a mercenary to help a Mexican oil company with a Graboid epidemic that's killing more people each day. However, the humans aren't the only ones with a new battle plan..
When an army of Graboids - giant, carnivorous underground worms - threaten the Petromaya oil refinery in Mexico, its owners call on Earl Bassett, who once helped kill four of the creatures in Perfection, Nevada. Having squandered the money that came from his resulting celebrity status, Earl is convinced by the $50,000-a-head bounty offered, as well as the enthusiasm of admirer Grady Hoover, who becomes his partner. At Petromaya, Earl and Grady meet geologist Kate Reilly, and begin Graboid hunting, tricking several Graboids into swallowing bomb-rigged, remote-controlled cars. When they find they're facing a lot more Graboids than they ever expected, Earl calls his friend Burt Gummer, a survivalist who arrives well-stocked with weapons.
Tremors 2 is a really fun movie, starring Fred Ward as the main in this one, once again the underground monsters are back, Earl teams up with his old friend Burt Gummer played by Michael Gross, To try and get rid of all the killer worms, Tremors 2 is even better then the first one, I hope they never stop making these films.<br/><br/>10 out of 10
** 1/2 out of ****<br/><br/>Tremors 2: Aftershocks is shockingly well-made for a film that went straight-to-video. As the sequel to the much beloved Tremors, it's easy to say that it's not nearly as good, but it is a respectable continuation that, after a relatively slow starts, mirrors the fun of the original without being a blatant rehash. It is missing Kevin Bacon and some of the character chemistry that worked so well, but it stands as a movie that is easily watchable, and often funny and thrilling.<br/><br/>As the film begins, it features a rather low and depressed-looking Earl Bassett (Fred Ward), who, unlike his partner Valentine Mckee, didn't profit from the appearance of the giant worms, now known as graboids. But a young man named Grady Hoover (Christopher Gartin) arrives at his door and tells him of an offer to kill some graboids scurrying around a Mexican oil refinery. Bassett agrees to the terms and teams up with Grady.<br/><br/>When they do arrive, they meet up with Kate Reilly (Helen Shaver), a scientist who is studying the graboids in the area and is also assisting the owners of the oil refinery. At first, killing the graboids is relatively easy for Bassett and Grady, but after a little trouble, they enlist the help of gun fanatic Burt Gummer (Michael Gummer). Meanwhile, the worms begin to mutate into creatures that are equally deadly, giving rise to a new menace aboveground.<br/><br/>The first thing that is noticeable about Tremors 2 is that it has the look of a theatrical release. Almost Everything about it is fairly well-done and accomplished. I'm sure the movie was given a low budget, but what's important is that it doesn't look like cheap, which makes me wonder why Universal didn't just go ahead and release this one in theaters. It may not have had the possibility of larger box office draw because there's no Kevin Bacon around this time, but audiences consistently watch a movie for its quality, not for the main star, at least not usually.<br/><br/>S.S. Wilson handles the directing reins for this movie, and while he doesn't match the incredible job Ron Underwood did, he still does a solid job behind the camera. Not bad, considering he never directed before this (nor did he ever do so afterward). He does capture some of the feel of the original without making the movie feel like a rip-off. As for how he handled the action, I'd have to say it's pretty good. The movie takes a little too long to get to the new mutations, so none of the thrills really begin until then, but the action is exciting when it's there, most particularly in the final half-hour.<br/><br/>Speaking of the mutations, it's basically a medium-sized creature with legs and a huge appetite, but lacks when it comes to eyesight and sound. They choose their meals by whatever gives off heat, and of course, that principle applies to humans. This creature design is obviously not an improvement over the graboids, but it's nonetheless nice to see the filmmakers do something new, and the effects are actually good, for the most part. The CGI is sometimes a little cartoonish, but isn't very distracting, especially considering that this film isn't taking itself seriously.<br/><br/>Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson's script supplies the humor, one of the aspects this series is popular for. Tremors 2 is funny, thanks to Fred Ward's fine and entertaining performance, as well as Michael Gross's return. It's obvious Maddock and Wilson were hoping that Grady would be the much-loved comic relief, similar to, say, Kevin J. O'Connor from Deep Rising. No dice, unfortunately. The character's too annoying, though Gartin does get off some good lines. His performance isn't the problem, mostly the script, which often relegates him to doing nothing but whining. As for Helen Shaver, she's okay and has some good chemistry with Ward that should have used a little more development.<br/><br/>The script does have some other major problems. For one thing, they should never have tried to explain the origin of the graboids. Any explanation would have been laughable, and there's a reason why none was offered in the original film. The screenplay, while sometimes clever, doesn't necessarily have a lot in the way of imagination, and sometimes it almost feels like the movie is just going through the moitions, but thankfully, that's not quite the case in the last 35 or so minutes. When the thrills and humor kick in, they push Tremors 2 above the usual straight-to-video crap up to solid escapism.
While everyone else made money on the battle of Earl Bassett (<a href="/name/nm0911542/">Fred Ward</a>) and Valentine "Val" McKee (<a href="/name/nm0000102/">Kevin Bacon</a>) against four giant, carnivorous, underground graboids—that is, everyone except Earl Bassett. Earl decides to accept an offer to come to Mexico and help the Petromaya oil refinery eradicate a bunch of graboids that are killing their workers. The fact that Petromaya is willing to pay $50,000 for each graboid killed, with a $100,000 bonus if he can capture one alive, is a huge motivator. Earl teams up with enthusiastic admirer Grady Hoover (<a href="/name/nm0308651/">Chris Gartin</a>), and the two of them set out to blow up graboids by tricking them into swallowing dynamite-rigged, remote-controlled toy cars. Their ploy works, until the graboids metamorph into above-ground "shriekers", and survivalist Burt Gummer (<a href="/name/nm0343447/">Michael Gross</a>) shows up with a truckload of high explosives. Tremors 2: Aftershock is a sequel to <a href="/title/tt0100814/">Tremors (1990)</a> (1990), which was based on a screenplay developed by American screenwriters S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, and Ron Underwood, who also wrote the screenplay for Tremors 2, which was followed by <a href="/title/tt0259685/">Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001)</a> (2001), a prequel <a href="/title/tt0334541/">Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)</a> (2004), <a href="/title/tt4180514/">Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015)</a> (2015) and a short-lived TV series '<a href="/title/tt0327375/">Tremors (2003)</a>' (2003). The only characters to return are Earl Bassett and Burt Gummer. Valentine and Heather are shown in photographs. Val, Heather, and Walter are mentioned in dialogue. Early in the movie, Earl tells Grady and Señor Ortega (<a href="/name/nm0875641/">Marcelo Tubert</a>) that Val married a "good woman" (presumably Rhonda LeBeck (<a href="/name/nm0141617/">Finn Carter</a>), the seismology student from the first movie, and refused to go on another hunt for graboids. Burt first tells Earl that Heather (<a href="/name/nm0005207/">Reba McEntire</a>) is visiting with her sister, but later admits that she is not coming back. He can tell because she asked him to send her the HK91. Realizing that the graboids trapped inside the storage garage are feasting on the golosinas dulce (sweet snack food) stored there and that they will soon be popping out little graboids, Earl comes up with a plan. He sprays himself with the cold foam from a CO2 fire extinguisher then enters the garage to get the bombs out of Burt's truck. The graboids, being attracted only by heat, don't notice him until Earl starts to melt. He grabs a bomb and climbs higher in the garage while Grady lowers him a fire hose to climb out. "Run!" Earl shouts as he climbs out. "I set a bomb!" Earl, Grady, Burt, and Kate (<a href="/name/nm0001726/">Helen Shaver</a>) run for cover, diving into a trench just as the bomb goes off, flattening the refinery and killing all the shriekers.. As they walk away, Earl agrees to stay with Kate a bit longer in Mexico, and Grady adds up the money they made: $50,000 × 28 worms, enough to start up Grady and Earl's Monster World theme park. Earl declines, but Grady reminds him that this could be his big, third chance. He was intended to be in the second film, but Kevin Bacon declined; thus began a tradition of a different character filling his role in every installment. According to director S.S. Wilson, he called Kevin Bacon and asked him for the role. Kevin Bacon replied saying "Actually, I think I will do it!", but he never followed up. This is most likely because Bacon was filming Apollo 13 at the same time this film was in production. a5c7b9f00b