The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018)

(In French, On TV, August 2021) The best jokes play on brevity, and at a sixth instalment, there’s clearly a sense in The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time that enough is enough. Obviously designed as a meta-riff on the Sharknado series’ absurdity (and after five instalments, there’s a lot of it), this last film in the series starts in the prehistorical past and gets its characters to time-travel through a series of comic sketches before landing in the future for a big finale that brings the series to a full close. It’s really silly — but to be honest, I’ve seen maybe three of the five previous films, and they haven’t exactly made much of a lasting impression. So, if I’m not exactly hip to all of the references… I don’t care. There are a few laughs here and there—Ian Ziering and Tara Reid still give creditable performances among such looniness, and the way the film wraps up the series is mildly admirable, especially as it’s committed to giving loyal audiences a happy ending. (Many lesser movies would have gone for a cheaper nihilistic route.)  I am not suggesting that The Last Sharknado justifies the purchase of a collected edition of the series — but I will suggest that it doesn’t end it all on a note that makes viewers feel cheated, so that’s already quite an achievement.