I have a soft spot for Jaws
2. This is mainly due to the sense of nostalgia it evokes whenever I watch
it, as opposed to it being a good movie. It was one of the very first movies my
dad recorded on our VCR (in 1986) and, in fact, I saw Jaws 2 before I saw the original movie (we rented Jaws a few months later). I was seven years-old at the time, therefore,
I could have cared less about character development, or plotting, the only
thing that mattered to me was the shark. As unnecessary sequels go, Jaws 2 isn’t bad, especially when
compared to the countless Jaws rip-offs
that were being produced at the same time (Orca,
Grizzly, Humanoids from the Deep, and
Barracuda, to name a few). I would even argue that it is even better
than the source material, Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws, which inspired the first movie. Benchley’s novel is a truly dreadful piece of
exploitation – it is equivalent to the kind of cinematic trash that Roger
Corman was producing at New World Pictures at time – heavy on sex and violence
(Hooper and Ellen have an affair), but light on story and
characterizations. It is absolutely
miraculous how Steven Spielberg was able to take a piss poor novel and
transform it into a cinematic masterpiece.
Jeannot Szwarc, the director of Jaws
2, deserves some credit for turning in a watchable movie, even if it
greatly pales in comparison to its predecessor.
Jaws 2 biggest
flaw is that is a crowded movie. It
is populated with characters completely devoid of any personality - I struggle
to remember the names of the teenagers, with the exception of Tina, largely
because she has a knack for being at right place at the right time; it is she and
her boyfriend, Eddie, who witness the motorboat explosion and, later, stumble
across the corpse of the half-eaten killer whale. This is unfortunate, because it’s hard to
care about the characters later on when they are being terrorized by the shark.
There is also the unfortunate subplot involving Len Peterson, Ellen's greedy boss
and local developer, who opposes Chief Martin Brody. This is supposed to add
friction to Martin and Ellen’s marriage, but only serves as meaningless filler.
Roy Scheider does his best to bring an
air of credibility of the proceedings, but there are a few moments where even he
is defeated by the material; his performance in the first film was much more
naturalistic, here, he tends to overact at times.
There’s also a sense of a déjà vu in the movie’s first half - Chief Brody
suspects a shark is swimming in the waters of Amity, but is greeted with
initial skepticism by the town leaders; you would think that Mayor Vaughn would
have learned his lesson after the events in the first movie. This also begs the question: Why center the
sequel on Chief Brody? It would make
more sense for the movie to follow the exploits of Matt Hooper – he is an
oceanographer, hence it is only natural that he would inevitably encounter
another great white shark.
It is also not surprising that the sequel is much more excessive
in terms of the shark. In the first film, it wasn’t until the midway point that
we were given a good look at the shark and, even then, it was fleeting. The
sequel blows its wad in the first twenty minutes; the shark eats a water skier
and then attacks the speedboat that was towing her. In a laughable attempt at making the shark
scarier, the filmmakers give it burn scars, the result of being in the middle
of a boat explosion that it accidentally caused; the woman in the boat freaks
out when she sees the shark, spills gasoline all over the boat and herself, and
then fires a flare gun at the shark, which results in a big explosion.
Though, rather surprisingly, the death toll is relatively
small (seven total) – this is an advantage in the movie’s favor. I recently
watched the Roger Corman produced Sharktopus,
and the move is devoid of any suspense largely because the body count (over
30) is so high that it becomes fairly redundant - every time the movie
introduces a minor character they are promptly devoured. Indeed, most of the
deaths are played for laughs. At least in Jaws
2, there is some element of suspense as to whether or not a character is
going to survive. I still find the death of Marge to be a fairly shocking –after
pulling Sean to safety she is swallowed whole by the shark. I also liked the
fact that Sean is still traumatized by her death in the next scene as to just
shaking it off; which is a tendency in most modern horror movies. The last half hour is the strongest part of the entire movie – the shark maybe a
ridiculous at times, but at least the characters behave in a realistic fashion
(no one cracks a stupid joke, there are no displays of bad assery), they are
genuinely frightened and just want to survive.
The scene where the blonde girl, Lucy, starts praying may come off as
maudlin, but it is perfectly believable, especially after having just witnessed
her friend get devoured.
Jaws 2 differentiates
from its predecessor in that the second half is a race to the rescue, as
opposed to being a hunting expedition.
In the first movie, the second half follows Brody, Quint, and Hooper as
they hunt down the shark. The movie focuses entirely on their efforts to track
down and kill the shark, without every once cutting back to the mainland – it
effectively gives the audience a sense of isolation. These men are cut off from
civilization and if anything goes wrong, no one will be able to save them. Jaws 2,
on the other hand, constantly cross cuts between Brody and the teenagers, and
the “suspense” is built around whether or not Brody will arrive in time to save
the teenagers from being devoured. It moves at a swift pace, but by constantly
cutting back and forth between the two locations, it diffuses the tension –
after each shark attack, the movie will cut back to Brody on the police launch,
steadily on his way. Brody gets
sidelined for most of the second half; it’s only be sheer happenstance that he
learns of the teenagers whereabouts. It
certainly doesn’t help that the teenagers are cardboard cutouts and lack the
screen presence of the leads in the first movie.
I would like to think the scene with the beached killer
whale corpse is a shot at the Jaws rip-off Orca;
that movie begins with a killer whale killing a great white shark. It was
producer Dino De Laurentis’ (still bitter that his King Kong remake made less money than Jaws) way of saying that Jaws
was fun and stuff, but it was no match for Orca. Jaws 2, while definitely inferior to the first movie, is
leagues a head of Orca. Though, it is depressing to see that one of Jaws 2 biggest “scare” moments – the
shark attacking the helicopter – is lifted from the movie Grizzly, another Jaws rip-off. In that film, the title monster (a
fifteen foot grizzly bear) attacks a helicopter, though it only manages to spin
it around a few times.
Jaws 2 proved to
be enough of a hit that Universal green lit two more sequels (Jaws 3-D, and Jaws The Revenge), though it only did about 40% of the original
movie. It is an acceptable waste of
time, especially on a dull, Sunday afternoon. So, if it happens to be playing on
your local TV station (do they still show movies?) open up a six pack of beer and give it a
watch.
Credits
Cast: Roy Scheider (Police Chief Martin Brody), Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody), Murray Hamilton (Mayor Vaughn), Joseph Mascolo (Len Petersen), Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Hendricks), Ann Dusenberry (Tina), Mark Gruner (Mike Brody), Marc Gilpin (Sean Brody), Collin Wilcox (Dr. Elkins), Gary Springer (Andy), Donna Wilkes (Jackie), Keith Gordon (Doug), David Elliott (Larry Vaughn, Jr.), Barry Coe (Tom), Gary Dubin (Eddie), John Dukakis (Paul), G. Thomas Dunlap (Timmy), Cindy Grover (Lucy), Gigi Vorgan (Brooke), Billy Van Zandt (Bob), Ben Marley (Patrick), Martha Swatek (Marge), Susan French (Grace), Jerry M. Baxter (Helicopter Pilot).
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Screenplay: Carl Gottlieb, Howard Sackler.
Running Time: 116 min.
Screenplay: Carl Gottlieb, Howard Sackler.
Running Time: 116 min.
