This past weekend was the theatrical release of Spinal Tap II – The End Continues. This film is the sequel to the 1984 cult classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. It’s not common to get a sequel film 41 years after the original, but a long-standing battle over rights issues and a simple desire to find the “right” story for a new film held things up for a long time.

This new film involves the four main characters – band members David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls, as well as documentary maker Marty Di Bergi. There are also a number of new people involved, a handful of cameos from characters in the first movie, and several new guests.

The movie is quite short by today’s standards, going for 1 hour, 22 minutes. I was fine with it, there was more than enough to fill the screen and I didn’t see a reason to have a super long movie.

The plot is very simple and, to be honest, barely even there. Spinal Tap are contractually obligated to have one more show after 15 years of not playing together. The rest of the film is the lead-up to the show and then it caps off with the show itself. It’s extremely simple and doesn’t carry any excess baggage or dense weight to process.

This does make for easy watching but does also have a downside – there isn’t a ton of real tension or anything in the film. The first movie had a huge sense of wondering just how far the band was going to fall, as well as a true antagonist with Jeanine fouling up the band. Spinal Tap II doesn’t have much adversity going on – sure, David and Nigel have issues with each other and there’s an antagonist with a slimy concert promoter, but the film moves from “they’re reuniting” to the reunion in pretty short order. No one needed a crazy movie with twists and turns, but this is super, super light on plot.

We do get several guest appearances. A handful are small cameos that let us know how characters from the first film are doing, and a few others are new guests. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood appear in one of the film’s most hilarious scenes and Paul McCartney makes a decently-sized appearance as himself. Elton John spends a bit more time on the screen and is pivotal to the film’s conclusion. There are a handful of other brief guest shots that come during an important story scene and I won’t spoil it, but they do make the joke that everyone thought they were going to make based on the pre-announced guest list.

One thing the movie gets right and probably the central thing they needed to get right is the humor. There are a few outright moments of gut-busting laughter, but most of the jokes are the same kind of faux-British, deadpan delivery that made the first movie so charming. Nigel especially is as full of nonsense as he was in the first movie.

Another thing done very well is honoring Spinal Tap lore. This movie fits very easily in alongside its 41 year old sibling film. The band’s long-running issues with drummers play a huge role, and the actual reunion show and aftermath are very much tied to incidents from the first movie. There isn’t a ton of new original music on offer in contrast to the first film, but Derek Smalls does air out a few bits of solo material. And while David St. Hubbins does seem a bit different as he’s gotten older, Nigel and Derek are almost straight-line continuations from the original flick. It’s very cool to catch up, albeit briefly, with old characters like Bobbi Flekman, Jeanine and Artie Fufkin. And the film honors the departed Ian Faith with a brief flashback before introducing his daughter. While the plot may be light, the story connection to the first film is rock solid.

I don’t feel much need to keep going with dry analysis so I’ll go ahead and wrap it up here. Spinal Tap II – The End Continues is a fitting sequel to the classic film of decades gone by. While it doesn’t offer up a lot in the way of story, it does great service to its lineage and offers up an entertaining array of laughs. It was nice to see the band back together for one more ride and the movie was more than worth the time.

Grade: B+

So now we have what seems to be a fitting conclusion to the Spinal Tap saga. I presume this is the final film, anyway. And in usual movie tie-in fashion, the band did offer up an album to accompany the film. I have since covered the album in this post.