Airplane II: The Sequel Review

MPAA Rating: PG
Released: 1982

The original Airplane was a flawless comedy classic that made the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams, the masterminds behind the film, three of the most respected names in the business. Their hilarious onslaught of belly laugh-inducing material consisted of zany characters and scenarios, witty wordplay, outright slapstick and vicious mockery of pre-existing movies and genres gelled together perfectly and created one of the rare comedies that truly IS a laugh a minute.

So does Airplane II: The Sequel live up to the brilliant original? Read on to find out…

When Airplane II: The Sequel was released with a new director (Ken Finkleman) at the helm, few really expected the sequel to come close to the magic of the original. After all, it's a rarity in it itself for a sequel to equal or surpass an original even with the same production team, so the lack of the inspired Zucker/Abrahams team should be a virtual death knell for the follow-up.

But it wasn't.

Call it a miracle, or call it one hell of a job well done, but Ken Finkleman successfully captured the magic of the original. He clearly adopted the theory of "if it's not broken, don't fix it" and he should be credited with that wise choice. Featuring many of the same charismatic stars as the original Airplane and the same wacky style of humor, Airplane II: The Sequel provides another absolute laughfest.

One of the things I praised about the original film was its machine-gun style of humor; the jokes were fired at us so quickly it was nearly impossible to stop laughing. Another of the qualities I really enjoyed was the variation of jokes; there was everything from zany physical comedy to hilarious verbal exchanges, but beyond the obvious jokes existed a slew of background jokes that might not be noticed by the less observant. It wasn't uncommon to see a scene simultaneously display two or three layered jokes.

Finkleman adopted all of the above strengths for his sequel, which leads to one criticism some critics levied against this follow-up: some of the jokes are recycled. And yes, there is some validity to the charge; Finkleman does borrow thoughts from the original. But technically that's not uncommon for the industry; most sequels will inevitably borrow from the originals, so we're left with the question: does the sequel bring enough new ideas to the table to make it worthy? And the answer is absolutely. Like its predecessor, Airplane II: The Sequel layers the jokes on thick, and a good majority of them hit the comedy bullseye.

The sequel takes place in the future when space travel has become a reality. Ted Striker (Robert Hays) has a premonition that the first passenger shuttle to the moon, Mayflower I, is doomed, so he escapes from a mental institution and tries to convince Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), an old flame that will be working aboard the flight, to abort the trip. Naturally no one listens to his protestations, so Striker ends up on the plane and sure enough, something goes wrong.

The computer system has a malfunction and locks the controls after setting course directly towards the sun, rendering Captain Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves) helpless. To make matters worse, there's also a mad bomber on board. And perhaps worst of all, they ran out of coffee. Yikes! It's again up to Striker to take the role as the unlikely hero and lead the shuttle and its inhabitants safely to the moon.

Airplane II: The Sequel is humorous from start to finish, but a court scene where Ted Striker was on trial was a definite highlight and a good example of what you can expect from the movie. The prosecution is examining a witness to determine Striker's mental state and a small part of the exchange goes as follows:

Prosecutor: Doctor, can you give the court your impression of Mr. Striker?
Witness: I'm sorry; I don't do impressions. My training is in psychiatry.
Prosecutor: Of course.

Shortly after the trial concludes a reporter with camera in hand approaches a counselor and asks, "How about a photo for the Daily News?" The counselor says sure, digs into his briefcase and pulls out a photo, which he promptly trades for a copy of the Daily News.

Naturally the two examples cited above aren't given justice in this format; you'll get the maximum entertainment while watching the happenings on screen. But those two (of many… trust me) exchanges do give you an idea of the constant wordplay that takes place throughout the film.

Peter Graves, Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty are just as funny as they were in the original, and Lloyd Bridges also reprises his role as Steven McCroskey, the scatter-brained air traffic controller that must try and support the troubled shuttle pilot. A pleasant addition to the original crew was William Shatner, and his charisma and knack for comedy fits in perfectly with the outrageous happenings.

So now that we've seen the merits of the movie, it bears the question: does Airplane II: The Sequel manage to reach the same level of perfection as the original? No, not quite. It comes amazingly close to the original all things considered, but Airplane was the first of its kind and a true innovator, whereas this is just a worthy successor. That being said, if you loved the original film or enjoy zany humor, this is an essential movie to view.

Movie rating: 9 stars

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