Horror

Film review by Jason Day of Jaws 2 (1978), the sequel to the 1975 blockbuster that continues the story of a huge Great White Shark attacking the community of Amity Island in North East America.

Synopsis

Some years after successfully defeating a marauding Great White Shark that was gobbling up the News England community of Amity Island, Police Chief Martin Brody has enjoyed a relatively tranquil life.

But when two divers go missing and bodies roll in on the waves again, Martin immediately suspects carcharodon carcharias has returned from the deep. Despite renewed skepticism from the powers that be, he sets out to settle things with this new and lethal piscine predator.

Review, by @Reelreviewer

I’ve never fully understood the drubbing this movie has had and continues to receive.

Sure, topping Steven Spielberg’s mighty 1975 blockbuster was going to be a filmic fool’s errand, but it is far removed from being a pale imitation.

And French director Jeannot Szwarc never intended to do such cinematic sacrilege as outdoing Spielberg.

For one thing, it would have been pointless, possibly directorial suicide. Secondly, he was an artist in his own right and wanted this movie to stand on its own merits, albeit with respectful nods towards the first movie.

What he ended up making was a slick, action-packed movie with gripping (if increasingly over-the-top) set pieces, exactly as he was tasked with creating by the production company Universal. These more-or-less still stand the test of time:

• The technically complicated but thrilling boat/water skier scene
• Brody wades out into the sea to retrieve a seemingly innocuous piece of flotsam
• The helicopter attack and ‘Cable Junction’ scenes.

Composer John Williams returns, and full credit to him for creating new waves of chills and shocks with his updated score adds to his original work, resulting in music that stands as a piece on its own.

If the screaming teenagers grate too much (not enough of them get gobbled up, quite frankly), marvel in the magnetism and sheer professionalism of Roy Scheider. He didn’t want to make the sequel (and did his damndest to get out of the production), but eventually Universal made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

His Brody is no longer wet behind the ears (both figuratively and literally) and is haunted by the events of the first film. Despite the limitations of the script (hastily rewritten as filming had started), he jumped at any psychological nuances to flesh out a true, working-class hero.

Up there with him is Lorraine Gary as his wise and wise-cracking wife, this time given a little more to work with as she’s a working mother and wife (property development on the island) whose career prospects are in jeopardy thanks to this most troublesome of fish.

All in all, Jaws 2 is a sequel worth checking out.

Cast & credits

Director: Jeannot Szwarc. 1hr and 56mins/116mins. Universal Pictures/Zanuck Brown Productions. (PG).

Producers: David Brown, Richard D. Zanuck.
Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Howard Sackler.
Camera: Michael C. Butler.
Music: John Williams.
Sets: Joe Alves.

Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Joseph Mascalo, Jeffrey Kramer, Collin Wilcox, Ann Dusenberry, Mark Gruner, Barry Coe, Susan French, Gary Springer, Donna Wilkes.