Following the 2019 film Fisherman’s Friends, the sequel adds a colon and the words One and All. It also adds more to the myth that surrounds the actual group of fishermen that became something of a sensation when Universal Music released their album comprised of sea shanties and it actually sold.
The album went gold selling over 150,000 copies and in these days of streaming that is an impressive number. With that surprise success, media attention and a film based on their story was inevitable. The first film did well and now part two gets a release. The first version was a feel-good story and the second continues with that momentum.
The story that has been built around the facts feels very contrived but that does little to dull the joy. Who doesn’t love a good sea shanty and the singers tasked with recreating the actual voices used in the songs in the movie have excellent voices and they harmonise wonderfully.
This film is a crowd pleaser and peppering the final credits with actual footage of the real group playing the most unlikely of gigs helps sell the fantasy. If you grew up in the UK you will probably have a few of these earworms songs upstairs already. For the rest of us, they will easily sink into the grey matter.
Rob Hudson
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