Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

Hal Needham is back with Reynolds and all the gang for another dose of pedal to the metal, tarmac burning, high octane, highway speeding...I think. This time the movie has gone for a more all out comedy slapstick route, more along the lines of Needham's other movie 'The Cannonball Run', or dare I say, Disney's Herbie franchise.

Once again the plot revolves around the Bandit and his partner the Snowman, transporting a cargo across the country as quickly as possible. This time its from Miami to Dallas, once again the challenge is set by Big Enos, once again there is a big monetary reward and lastly the cargo is an elephant (only thing that is different). Here lies the problem with this movie, its exactly the same shit as the first movie, exactly!! Once again the duo team up with Sally Field's character Frog, who has once again left Junior Justice at the altar, which naturally means Sheriff Buford T. Justice is back on their trail...again. The entire premise of the first movie is basically rebooted or remade here, accept the cargo is an elephant.

I really couldn't believe my eyes as I was watching this (first time viewing), the plot simply retreads everything. When we find the Bandit he has become a drunk which adds a new dimension to the character, but that is quickly forgotten as the plot recaptures the same old vibe, but not in a good way. Frog is once again lured away from getting married to Junior, which begs the question why on earth is she still even wanting to marry this guy! I thought she was over him in the first movie. The fact that this leads to Buford Justice chasing the Bandit and co across the country yet again feels really really rehashed and boring.

This movie seriously takes a nose dive in terms of dignity, talk about selling out and milking your original idea. The whole project just feels like its patting itself on the back whilst slapping product advertisement stickers all over itself. I mean lets look at the Bandits attire in this one, he's wearing a shiny red jacket with the words 'Bandit' and 'Trans Am' down the sleeves and across the back. Even the car has 'Bandit' on its paintwork which makes me wonder why really, it that really necessary? is the Bandit a product within this movies universe? Plus how the hell did they manage to afford a Pontiac Trans Am by chopping in that crappy old car?

As the story unfolds more and more ridiculous things happen which make no sense and have clearly been chucked in to be funny, apparently. Enter Dom Deluise, a Needham regular, a regular movie partner of Reynolds and a regular slapstick comedian of the time. If you ever needed your movie to be bolstered with in your face comedy then Deluise was your man, and sure enough he is on good form here as expected. The only problem is his character has obviously been jammed in just to extract the best from Deluise and nothing more, the character is a throwaway job. The fact the Bandit and co take him along on their adventure makes no sense either because they could of dropped him off anywhere, he's obviously there to salvage the movie.

Now lets talk about the cargo, the elephant. Yes that's right, they stuff a living creature into the trailer of a big rig, no light, no food, no water and most importantly no air! Couldn't help but wonder if this would have been allowed these days, of course its not real but we do actually see the animal climb into the trailer. The point is its the whole idea of doing it, and the way the characters think its perfectly OK, although admittedly they do look after the animal much better later on. Gotta ask why a Republican party would need an elephant, yeah sure its your mascot but you really need a real one?!

The whole thing is so drab, just watching Buford chase the Bandit all over again, doing the same spiel but without any grown-up edge to it. Everything is so childish, the chases are almost like Benny Hill sequences, the carnage is tame and has this cartoon-esque quality to it, there is never any real threat or danger etc...because its all so light-hearted. In the first movie it felt relatively realistic, like it could happen, here its all over the top and off the wall, which in-turn takes away any proper enjoyment. Perfect example being the big money sequence where the Snowman and all his big rig buddies take on an entire squadron of smokies. Now this is the sequence which I refer to as (Disney's) 'The Love Bug' sequence, this is what I meant at the start of this review. The whole thing is pretty cringeworthy and virtually destroys any self respect this movie had.

I was seriously disappointed with this sequel, never knew it was such a rehash...or reboot basically! Its exactly the same as the first movie with minor alterations, watered and dumbed down incredibly. There isn't even any car or truck porn to get excited about, they have completely jettisoned that idea leaving only the famous black Trans Am. I can't count all the big rigs in the Love Bug sequence simply because it was so crap and infantile, clearly not about the trucks. Do yourself a favour and don't bother with this shockingly woeful attempt at a sequel.

3/10