Piranha 2: The Spawning


Have you ever wondered what a human created breed of super deadly piranha would be like if they had wings, could fly, and could survive outside of the water?  Apparently James Cameron did when he wrote and directed the film Piranha 2: The Spawning.  Mind you, he has said that he wasn’t able to properly direct it and that the producer was really in charge.  A producer named Assonitis.  And although Cameron didn’t get the creative control that he got with other projects, he still has been known to say that this is “the finest flying killer fish horror/comedy ever made.”

Lance Henrickson is in this movie with a bunch of other people.  The basic idea is that there is a beach resort and the piranha start attacking people.  Lance and a few others set out to stop the piranha while the rest of the people don’t listen to warnings and start getting eaten.  It’s your basic man hates fish, fish loves flesh story.

I really only have two problems with the movie.  The first one is the most basic problem I could have.  The fish fly.  The whole time, I sat watching the movie wondering why they decided to turn them into flying fish.  I still can’t comprehend at what point they thought it was a good idea in the writing process.  I can’t imagine sitting there thinking “What can we do to top the danger of the piranha in the first movie?  Oh I’ve got it!  Make them fly!”  I would never think that.  Ever.

The second problem I had was the look of the film.  It’s the same problem I have with The Abyss, another Cameron directed film.  There’s some sort of fadedness to the movie.  It might be the copies of the movies that I watched.  I don’t think so though.  I think there was a directorial choice to fade the sharpness a little bit.  It doesn’t sit right with me.  Not in an eerie way.  It doesn’t sit right aesthetically and it bothered me enough to take me out of the movie every once in a while.

If you’re looking for something good for a background movie, I think Piranha 2: The Spawning is a good pick.  You could start watching at almost any point and not be lost.  It’s not a terrible movie.  It’s watchable.  There are much better if you’re looking for something to actually watch though.  I’d say watch this if you are into all the sea creature attack type movies but otherwise it’s not a necessary watch.

Well, that was an interesting five paragraphs that really say what I didn’t like and don’t back up that I like the movie at all even though I kind of did like it.  I need to work on holding a stance properly.

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