 Who would have thought that almost five years after the first shark flopped out of a crudely CGI'd tornado we would be sitting here with four sequels and a fifth one on the way. The SyFy channel has always had a reputation for churning cheap, badly acted, badly designed and badly written films, from the so close it's a wonder the copyright police haven't come a knocking such as Independent’s Day, Atlantic Rim and Snakes on a Train, to the I'm not sure what they were smoking when they made it films like Titanic II, Ice Spiders and Piranhaconda. They became the last refuge of actors who once had success in far superior films, how they ended up scrapping the barrel of their fame is anyone's guess, but the films found an audience. However, they remained confined to the gutter; if you were to do a straw poll among the general public, they would struggle to name any of these films, until 2013 when Sharknado crashed onto our small screens. At first glance this film looked like any other Syfy Channel film, cheap budget, poor special effects and a cast roster filled with could've-beens, has-beens, and who-da-hell-is-that-beens. And yet somehow it escaped the gutter of Syfy films and became a global phenomenon. Sharknado 5: Global Swarming sees Fin and his family travelling the world via portals in the Sharknados in an attempt to defeat the relentless wanton destruction of the world by our finned fiends. Regarding plot you don't need to know much more, a Sharknado appears Fin and the sharkbusters battle the flying sharks, and countless supporting actors get killed off in ever increasingly inventive and bizarre ways. From the opening scene, that would have Indiana Jones hanging up his whip in disgust, if he ever watched it to the somewhat racist depictions of the UK Sharknado constantly swims the line between funny parody and mindless drivel. Thankfully, for the most part, it stays on the side of funny parody. The filmmakers behind the series obviously know what the fans are looking for and they deliver it in chump bucketloads, from the only time I have ever been glad to see Brett Michaels from Poison on my TV. To the appearance of the ladies of GMTV( pity they couldn't get Piers Morgan on the set, but I assume no one would believe that a shark would stoop so low as to bite that rancid example of a human being), Sharknado 5 is filled with incredible guest stars, whose deaths never fail to bring a smile to your face. All sense of logic and compliance with the laws of nature and physics are ignored, and usually, this would make this reviewer go on a massive rant, but this film is so dumb it doesn't matter one bit. Hell, even the when the secret behind the Sydney Opera House is revealed there wasn't one single groan issued. Another charm of the film is the earnest performances from the two main leads, Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, while they would never rank on a top 500 acting list, their heartfelt dedication to making this film work, and their pitch-perfect delivery of lines and action set pieces that are so hokum and cheese filled they should carry a government health warning lifts this film from being just another crappy SyFy monster film. You know what you are getting when you put on a Sharknado film, and Global Swarming doesn't disappoint for a second, the big dumb fun movie has never had such a perfect ambassador. I've watched a lot of so-called proper horror films over the last few months and not one of came close to delivering the amount of fun I had watching this. Switch it on, switch of your brain, and have the most fun you can have with sharks without getting your feet wet.   BOOK REVIEW: YESTERDAY WHEN WE DIED BY CHAD A CLARK
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