Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)

Director: Ken Finkleman

Cast: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges

Synopsis: A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the Sun. Can Ted Striker save the day and get the shuttle back on track–again???

Watch this and other movies on Sky Cinema

Following the success of the original Airplane! movie in 1980, a sequel was inevitable, although it was not to come from David Zucker or the Abraham brothers who were the creators of the first movie. They were originally contracted to work on a sequel, but changed their minds, so writing and directing duties were taken up by Ken Finkleman, a novice director whose other 1982 writing credit was for the lame Grease 2. Airplane II isn’t as bad as that movie – in fact, some of it is very funny, but you kind of get the impression that Finkleman sneaked into the Zucker/Abrahams’ office late one night and rifled through their waste bins in search of material.

The plot is more or less a rehash of the first movie’s storyline, but that’s not important right now. It’s the gags that are important, and where as the hit-ratio of the previous movie was 1-in-3, here it’s more like 1-in-4, which still isn’t bad compared to some of the dross that was churned out on the back of Airplane’s success. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty return as the hapless pilot and his ex-girlfriend, looking no older than in the first film even though this one is set in the early 21st Century. Lloyd Bridges (A Walk in the Sun, High Noon) and Stephen Stucker also return, but are given nothing to do other than rehash old material. Additions to the cast include veteran actors Raymond Burr (Rear Window), Chuck Connors, Rip Torn, but the over-the-hill star who really steals the show in a truly funny cameo is William Shatner who shamelessly lampoons his Kirk character from Star Trek. Airplane II: The Sequel is worth watching for Shatner’s turn alone.

(Reviewed 16th May 2015)