Directed by: Ken Finkleman
Starring: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Peter Graves, Sonny Bono, Chad Everett, Lloyd Bridges, Stephen Stucker, William Shatner
Airplane II is the inevitable sequel to Airplane! (1980), the laffaminit spoof of airline disaster movies which threw many things at the wall with most of them sticking. It was irreverent and unafraid to try anything for a laugh. Airplane II follows in that tradition, but we find it recycles many of the gags from the first film only this time aboard a lunar shuttle on a collision course with the sun after the onboard computer goes haywire.
However, there are inspired moments, especially when William Shatner enters the movie late as a former colleague of Ted Striker (Hays), who once again finds himself piloting the aircraft in circumstances similar to those in the first film, although there is no food poisoning. Ted and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Elaine (Hagerty) are off-again with Ted trying to win her back and finding himself on the same flight in which Elaine is serving as a flight attendant.
Airplane II tries mightily to cover the same ground as Airplane! At times, it succeeds when he uses fresh jokes and gags. The atmosphere is still the same, although the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams are not affiliated with this sequel. Writer-director Ken Finkleman works to keep the style and the fun intact, but no one would question you if you thought Airplane II felt like Deja vu. Only the laughs come in fewer quantities.
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