Spinal Tap II: The End Continues will be remembered for being the first ‘legacyquel’ to textually be a cash grab farewell tour. Rob Reiner’s follow-up to the groundbreaking docuparody is inoffensive, misguided but at times funny. 

 

What made This is Spinal Tap special was not just the comedic genius of, ‘these go to eleven,’ ‘none more black,’ and (my personal favourite), ‘police said this was a mystery that was better left unsolved,’ but also its critique of the garish and perverse hair-metal groups dominating radiowaves. You might expect (like I did) that The End Continues would be harpooning the trend of non-stop revivals that this very film is a part of but sadly we were wrong. 

 

Spinal Tap is forced into one last concert by Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman whose character with Chris Addison’s slimeball associate feel out of place and aren’t given enough room to be seen as actual people like their counterparts in the original), Ian Faith’s daughter, through an inherited contract. While the reunion tour is an obvious invitation to social commentary, it is used solely as a framework to reintroduce our beloved characters and make them sing Hell Hole, the opportunity to say something is never taken. Reiner, McKean, Guest and Shearer frustratingly focus on satirising Instagram live (via Garth Brooks), cryptocurrency pump & dump scams and true crime podcasts instead. 

 

The director and actors also shy away from satirising old rock stars' aptitude for hitting on young women. The only reason I bring this up is because the film introduces it. Derek Smalls hits on new drummer Didi Crockett (Valerie Franco) before her girlfriend is introduced and the entire element is dropped from the film. So why introduce it, it wasn’t even that funny to begin with?

 

In spite of the misguided societal digs the film is still funny all because our lead performers/writers haven’t missed a beat. Their characters are still the best part of the film. Nigel Tufnel’s artisan cheese and guitar shop, the ghost tours interrupting the band and best of all David St. Hubbins' offense at Paul McCartney’s intrusion is all good stuff.

 

Truthfully, the main issue isn’t that they prioritise sticking vials of galapagos turtle glue up their noses instead of satirising themselves and their colleagues, it’s the plot. The narrative doesn’t highlight the characters the way the original did. Predominantly the band members sit around rehearsing, attending meetings or answering Marty DiBergi’s questions. The propulsion of the original's tour element provided is dearly missed. Without the chaos the jokes feel more prepared than sporadic which loses the feeling that you’ll need to come back a second time to catch all the laughs you missed. Story-wise the conflict doesn’t feel as natural either - St. Hubbins accuses Tufnel of sleeping with his wife out of nowhere just for there to be a low point before the concert and the conflict is deflatingly resolved by one conversation moments later. Painfully the characters still have insecurities to tap comedically and dramatically into that the structure and cameo appearances can’t facilitate for.

 

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues seems to beg the question: why? Right after the success of its predecessor the director-plus-actor writing team knew there wasn’t enough juice to squeeze out a sequel. Now that This is Spinal Tap has morphed from a pillar in the pantheon of cinematic comedies to a product of its time, the answer only becomes more confusing.