Rating of
1/4
This One Hurts...
ZJW - wrote on 05/08/09
The original Tremors and it’s sequel provided good entertainment with a perfect blend of action and comedy but Tremors 3: Back to Perfection falls far short of the fun those films offered. The first two were very tongue-in-cheek science fiction films but this movie takes it too far. It tries to hard to top what had already been done and in doing so pushes it beyond the already thin believability of the Tremors franchise. It also doesn’t help that Michael Gross is the only worthwhile holdover from the previous two films.
This centers the film squarely on the shoulders of Burt Gummer. There are of course other characters and a few rather storylines going on but they all prove to be rather boring. There is no question that the focus of the film - and the franchise from this point on - is on Burt. He still proves entertaining but even his quest to eradicate every last threat becomes tiring as this film progresses. The first two had a nice pace and never did the story become boring as it does quite often here.
There is also no real need for these Ass-Blasters. I suppose the filmmakers felt the need to go in a new direction after the Shriekers of the previous film. They still hunt by heat but are no air born which is supposed to make them that much more dangerous. The real problem with them is the excessive use of CGI used to ‘create’ these creatures. There are quite a few very noticeable CGI shots in this film which certainly hurt the film more than do it any good.
When it comes right down to it this is a very disappointing sequel and an all around bad film. You could make the argument that this film was doomed without either Kevin Bacon or Fred Ward but Burt had proved to be a very interesting and entertaining character in the past. He still proves fun here but none of the other characters are remotely interesting. The poor characters, the over-the-top aspects of the plot and the sub-par special effects added together results in a very sub-par film.
