I've always had a soft spot for Jaws 2. I know in a lot of ways it just copies the first movie, but at the same time there are sequences in this film that freaked me out way more as a kid than the first film did. I have to respect a sequel that manages to do that. At least I got a sense they tried with this one. The same can not be said for the two films that followed.
We return to Amity Island and it's been roughly four years since the first film. Brody is still the Chief of Police and his wife Ellen has a job working at the local tourism board. As the film opens, a new hotel and resort is having their grand opening. But out there in the ocean, another shark is waiting. After two divers go missing followed by the tragic deaths of a water skier and the person driving the boat, Brody begins to suspect that Amity may have another shark problem. Of course, we the viewers know this for sure because we see the attacks happen.
Of course, the town officials don't believe Brody and think he's panicking. To be fair, he is acting a bit erratic from their point of view and displaying some signs of PTSD from his last shark run in and finds his job as Chief of Police in jeopardy. Meanwhile, a group of local teens including Brody's sons Michael and Sean, are taking off in their sailboats for a picnic at a secluded beach. Of course, they fall directly in the sights of the shark. When Brody finds out his sons are out there, he follows in hot pursuit, setting the stage for another intense confrontation between Brody and killer shark.
Of course, the town officials don't believe Brody and think he's panicking. To be fair, he is acting a bit erratic from their point of view and displaying some signs of PTSD from his last shark run in and finds his job as Chief of Police in jeopardy. Meanwhile, a group of local teens including Brody's sons Michael and Sean, are taking off in their sailboats for a picnic at a secluded beach. Of course, they fall directly in the sights of the shark. When Brody finds out his sons are out there, he follows in hot pursuit, setting the stage for another intense confrontation between Brody and killer shark.
Jaws 2 is a reasonably worthy follow up to the classic original film. It's a bit more of a mixed bag than the first film, with the land based scenes dragging a bit or being shameless repeats of scenes in the original. But at the same time, it still knows how to bring the thrills when the action moves out to sea, especially in the second half of the film, with the teens being terrorized by the shark. In fact, the second film contains a couple scenes that unnerved me more than anything in the first one, so on the shark attack level it upped the ante in creating memorable nightmare inspiring scenes.
Spielberg turned down the opportunity to return to direct the sequel as he was still busy shooting Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which also explains Richard Dreyfuss' absence as well. This left the success of the sequel squarely on the shoulders of Roy Scheider. While it's no secret that he participated in the sequel solely to finish out a contract he had with Universal Pictures, he gives a decent performance as Brody and anchors the film nicely. Lorraine Gary does well as Brody's wife and is given a bit more to do this time around, which helps. The film also has found a nice group of kids to play the sailboating teens, most of them likable enough that you feel bad when they start becoming shark chow.
Jaws 2 had a troubled production that almost equaled the original film, with director John Hancock starting production but getting fired after a few weeks when Universal was unhappy with the tone of the production, citing it was too dark and depressing. He was ultimately replaced by Jeannot Szwarc, who brought in the first film's screenwriter Carl Gottleib to overhaul the script. The end result was a film that more tonally matched the original film. Also returning for the second and final time was John Williams, who contributed an all new score to the film that in some ways is even superior to the score for the original film.
Overall, while Jaws 2 isn't as strong a film as the first one it did at least give a good try at being a decent film on it's own. Given what came after this, I'm not sure the same can be said for the other sequels.
Jaws 2 had a troubled production that almost equaled the original film, with director John Hancock starting production but getting fired after a few weeks when Universal was unhappy with the tone of the production, citing it was too dark and depressing. He was ultimately replaced by Jeannot Szwarc, who brought in the first film's screenwriter Carl Gottleib to overhaul the script. The end result was a film that more tonally matched the original film. Also returning for the second and final time was John Williams, who contributed an all new score to the film that in some ways is even superior to the score for the original film.
Overall, while Jaws 2 isn't as strong a film as the first one it did at least give a good try at being a decent film on it's own. Given what came after this, I'm not sure the same can be said for the other sequels.
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