The sequel to the iconic mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" is set to start filming in February 2024. Rob Reiner will return to direct and write, and original stars/writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will reprise their roles as Nigel Tufnel, David St Hubbins and Derek Smalls,...
Not sure how they plan to pull this off. “This is Spinal Tap” is great fun, but it’s very much a product of its time. The cultural landscape that produced bands like Spinal Tap no longer exists, unless that itself will be the premise of the film, but that would be super hard to execute well.
I’ve been wrong before, though. I fully expected Better Call Saul to be a cheap money grab with no real value, and I was wrong about that. Hopefully, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I was thinking the exactly same about the original movie being a product of its time. If the sequel has no new angle and ways to bring Spinal Tap to this decade, it will be cheap nostalgia bait. Rock and metal music isn’t similarly on the limelight like when the movie came out.
Better Call Saul didn’t have a similar problem as Breaking Bad was somewhat part of the zeitgeist and a lot of effort was made to expand Saul’s character and the lore.
It didn’t have the same problem, but it had a different set of problems. Breaking Bad still being fresh in viewers’ minds was one of them, because it had to live up to that legacy. It managed, and it surprised me when it did.
I can’t grasp how they can make a Spinal Tap sequel work, but I’m open to being proved wrong.
I’m open as well. But the precedent has been set that the average sequel/prequel/remake is not as good as the first. Here’s hoping they do it well!