Customer Reviews

Jaws 2 [VHS]

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(64)
3 star:		(59)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

To believe that any effort to make a 'Jaws' sequel could compare with the impact of Steven Spielberg's original was a doomed notion even in 1978: the original was and is a cinematic classic of the highest order (despite having spent much of the '90s in almost-infinite rerun on the Turner networks), so much so that no sequel would ever have been able to measure up to its legacy. What happened basically is this: Universal execs saw the budget and schedule for 'Jaws' balloon so badly because of all its production troubles that they told Spielberg he'd never work in Hollywood again, UNTIL the movie was released and broke every box-office record imaginable. As they are wont to do in the face of staggering profit, these moneymongers quickly turned keel and told Spielberg they were behind him 100 percent the whole time and they wanted to know when he was planning to start shooting 'Jaws 2'. Spielberg, being smart, said 'No thanks', so the execs decided to go ahead with 'Jaws 2' without him. BIG mistake.
Thankfully, though, producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown remained in charge of things, and got the highly-underrated director Jeannot Szwarc to try to pick up the pieces, even going so far as to re-enlist the incomparable John Williams to score the film. The end result is a sequel that is essentially the 'Jurassic Park 2' of its day - critically landblasted, commercially eschewed, yet despite its dramatic idiosyncracies and the impossibility of competing with the original film, proves to be an entertaining follow-up nonetheless.
Much of the original cast returns, save Richard Dreyfuss (who, like Spielberg, was smart enough to know when to pass) and Robert Shaw (who, apart from his character being killed in the original, had himself died of a heart attack in 1978). But Roy Scheider's return is the saving grace here, as now he's given new dimensions to his character: his growing spite toward his wife's boss, his desperation in trying to prove that a new shark has arrived despite a more skeptical public this time around (since sharks rarely attack the same place twice, you can't really blame them). The acting remains solid in 'Jaws 2' - Murray Hamilton's character is a refreshing surprise, still just as disbelieving yet he can't help but be a little sympathetic for Brody this time - and remains that way even during the straining final hour of the film when Szwarc has to resort to the all-out terror of having the teenage daysailers menaced by the monolithic maneater.
Then there's the whole aspect of the shark itself. Since there's only so many times you can have a different giant shark attack the same island, the movie stretches its premise to the maximum level of plausibility. The shark's feats this time around are, to say the least, improbable - outrunning a speedboat and being able to sink a mini-copter, in particular - but Szwarc captures them on film quite well, and their absurdity pales in comparison to what we get in the last two entries in the series. And Szwarc and screenwriters Carl Gottlieb (returning from the original) and Howard Sackler (who contributed to the original but turned down screen credit) send their shark out in a death scene that has much more panache than the 'shoot-the-scuba-tank-stuck-in-its-mouth' gag.
'Jaws 2' has its bland and silly moments, but if you loved the suspense of the original, then this entry in the series is about the only follow-up that you might find truly worth your time and money.

Jaws II DVD

Roy Scheider returns as the police chief of Amity, a resort town somewhere in New England, which has been terrorized by a Great white Shark (GWS)

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, he's back.

The excellent music composed by John Williams will always make me think of JAWS.

Watch out for the seabirds, they'll know when the GWS is around.

The parasailing shown reminded me of using a bobber while fishing or fly fishing for trout... The skier was like trolling for marlin. When the ski boat blows up there is no direct evidence of what happened and of course the mayor and the city council don't want to believe. The police chief is fired. He didn't help himself when he cleared the beach and shot at a school of blue fish.

Throughout the movie the GWS is anthropomorphized so that we / the movie makers give him almost human intelligence.

Not recommended for anyone who wants to swim in the ocean. For me it's swimming pools from now on, Baby.

Gunner February, 2008

P.S. The GWS isn't really dead, I saw him out in Los Angeles at the Universal Studios park

I was only 4 when the original groundbreaking film Jaws was first released in 1975. In 1978, I was old enough to see Jaws 2. A film, that while it pales in comparison to Spielberg's classic, it's still an exciting and enjoyable action thriller.

The story takes place several years later and focuses on Martin Brody's (Roy Scheider) two sons and their group of teenaged friends. The summer resort island of Amity is once again facing a threat from a great white shark. After several mysterious deaths Brody is convinced that a another shark is lurking in the waters. The Mayor and town council think otherwise. Brody's two sons and a large group of their friends take off in their sailboats and big trouble ensues. Acting alone, it's up to Brody to come to the rescue.

While lacking the intial shock and surprise Jaws generated, this sequel manages to capture a couple of nice surprises. The film's big climax is geniunely exciting. Roy Scheider delivers a first rate performance. The young cast does fine as the periled day sailors. John William's score is simply terrific and in some ways better than than his music for the original. Director Jennot Szwarc does a nice job in his direction and generates enough tension and suspense to make this a worthwhile sequel. The two following sequels are best to be forgotton.

"Jaws 2" is an interesting sequel. At least it has Roy Scheider -once again playing the role of Chief Martin Brody -, and it has John Williams' familiar shark theme. The movie has its fine moments, especially the attack on the kids' catamarans and Brody's obssession with the shark. However, I find exaggerating the scene when the shark swims like a torpedo in order to attack a water skier. And what about the shark attacking on a helicopter? Oh, please!!! No way I could buy that.

However, the extras on this DVD are quite interesting. The behind-the-scenes featurette is fantastic at explaining what Director Jeannot Szwarc and crew went through while filming. I personally felt happy at watching John Williams as he explained the process of making the music for this film. And let's not forget the deleted scenes, which makes me wonder why they are not included in the final cut. All in all, this DVD is worth buying. Sometimes I'd love to see some of the viewers' faces at the helicopter scene.

JAWS is a film classic. So the pressure in making this uneveidable sequel must have been either "oh god this isn't going to work!" or "This is JAWS, we can't loose!" At the box office: Fair. With the critics: Don't ask. Mostly just because it's a sequel to a great american film. Most of the original cast is here, Roy Schieder is Martin Brody, Lorraine Gary is his wife Ellen, and Murray Hamilton is Larry (hey there's no shark!) Vaughan. The shark effects (This time by Roy Arbogast) need improvement, but are exceptible. As for plot, it's pretty much a carbon copy of the original, with one exception: the teenagers stalked by the shark is reminicent of HALLOWEEN (Though they were released the same year so you can give it's writers half the credit). All in all, a good, good movie worth a look at.

Nearly 10 years before I was born, there was a shark terrorising the cinema audience. Three years later (and still I wasn't around) a second shark came back to make sure we didn't dip a toe in the ocean.

Thirty plus years on from the first movie, it makes me terrified to even think about going near the ocean. (And I like beach holidays.) Jaws 2, not the best movie to watch on a bright sunny day, but it certainly passed the time. I did feel that it could have been edited slightly better, even by 10 minutes, cos it did seem to drag between killings, and shark sightings.

The great thing about Jaws 2 is that some of the original cast come back. I don't think it would have worked without Roy Schneider personally. He made the first movie for me, and he was even better in the second movie.

You know the storyline. A shark is back in the waters surrounding Amity Island, looking for meat, human meat is its favourite. The deaths start happening, people start mysteriously disappearing, a killer whale is washed up on the beach with huge bites taken out of it, and it's up to Brody to convince everyone that the shark is back. Bigger and better than ever.

Despite its length, and the fact you saw more of the shark this time, for me it was definitely scarier. The shark gets burnt early on in the movie, and it gives it a whole new look. Definitely scared the bejeezus out of me. The film doesn't really hit its peak until the last 35 minutes, when I was holding my breath, and trying not to look away from the screen.

I won't reveal too much more about the movie, you have to see it. After this, I hear the sequels got downright awful, so I think this will be the last of my Jaws reviews! They sound awful. But I do think my mum has all of them. Shocking. But the Jaws films still have the same effect on me and probably a lot of other viewers, as they did in the seventies. It still scares me.

JAWS under the firm hand of director Stephen Spielberg and the appealing tri-parte buddy acting of Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, combined to produce a monster film that was so good that the presence of the monster was almost a secondary afterthought. The huge profits of the novel by Peter Benchley and the even greater success of the filmed version guaranteed a celluloid sequel. Spielberg decided to bow out as director as did Dreyfus as the icthyologist Matt Hooper. Shaw's character was gobbled up so that left only Scheider and the shark to carry the film in a dramatic sense. Scheider tries mightily as does Bruce the shark, but the lack of Dreyfus and Shaw does not permit Scheider to do more than to complain loudly that a man eating shark is back in the waters off Amity. Perhaps if new director Jeannot Scwarc had tried to do more than just reshoot a plot that resonated in the original but fizzled in the sequel, then JAWS 2 might have had more going for it than watching an aquatic version of a teen slasher flick. The only way JAWS 2 might have been significantly different would have involved more human interest and less focus on shark canines. The problem with the sequel of any hit film is to recapture the freshness of the original, or if failing that, to stake out and create a new sense of dramatic interest. In THE GODFATHER 2, director Coppola moved back in time to fill in the blanks of young Vito Coreleone's life. In ALIENS 2, director James Cameron humanized the alien by giving it maternal instincts. Nothing of the sort was done here. The shark was presented in both films as a feeding machine. Coppola and Cameron have proved that if you can't improve the monster at least give it a reason for existence so that as it munches on its victims, the audience can shout out--as Sigourney Weaver did in ALIENS 2--"Leave her alone you bitch!"

Jaws 2 is a fun rollercoaster ride of a summer movie, nothing more. It certainly has been maligned by critics and fans for a variety of reasons, but the brilliant background material on this disc clearly shows the quite intelligent reasons why Zanuck/Brown went with the replicate the first movie route instead of breaking new ground. Director Jeannot Szwarc also comes across as a far more intelligent and thoughtful filmmaker than he has been given credit for, that he was able to make a film both stylistcally similiar to Jaws and yet add touches that were uniquely his own (i.e. the ride 'em cowboy POV from the shark's back, etc.) is a perfect example of that. Carl Gottlieb (collaborating screenwriter/script doctor) of the first three films shows a welcome sense of humor about both his work on and the audience reaction to this film. Certainly Jaws 2 suffers from poor creative decisions, a troubled production (the firing of the first director, countless rewrites, and the to be expected mechanical shark problems), and the fact that it was a direct follow up to a wildly succesful movie AND pop culture phenomonom almost doomed it from the start. But the movie is still well made, well acted, and the shark attack scenes are outstanding. A few may grumble that they are telegraphed far too clearly but this was an intentional approach by Szwarc. He felt that the attack scenes were primarily what the audience was there for, to see people get eaten by the shark. The cat and mouse games of the first film would only irritate them, or so he believed at the time.

All in all I think this was the best they could do at the time and the movie is well worth watching. It's frothy summer movie fun that, with the exception of the attack scenes, is almost easy to forget (which makes repeated viewings a lot easier). Jaws 2 is not a great movie, but neither is it a bad one.

This film was the first sequel to the classic "Jaws" and so was inevitably compared to it. However, it is unfair to compare this to the original and not give it a chance on its own merits.

I was 11 when I saw "Jaws" and 14 when I saw "Jaws 2". I knew it had been made mostly because the original was so successful, but even at 14 I wanted to see it in part at least, for what it might have to offer. I was not disappointed. Granted, it was not directed by Spielberg, but I think Jeannot Swarc did a more than competent job.

Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gay and Murray Hamilton reprise their roles and give very good performances, as good as in the original film. I thought the shark effects were good. The shark does not look fake.

Maybe they show the shark a little more than Spielberg did, perhaps a bit too much, but the scenes where the shark attacks are well staged and convincing. The water-skiing scene is terrifying; makes you think about skiing on the ocean! Even the much debated helicopter scene. It was well staged and it's pretty scary. I don't think it's implausible with a shark that big, but that's all I will say about that.

I was not bothered by the focus being on Chief Brody's sons and their friends going out on sailboats during most of the movie's second half. What's wrong with that? There is a sort of rivalry between Murray Hamilton's son in the film, Larry Vaughn Jr, and Mike Brody that I thought was interesting and at least rings true. Larry is the rich mayor's son; Mike is the Chief of Police's son who has to work during the summer; both are young, good looking kids, interested in the same pretty girls. The scenes with the boats play into that.

Ok, so maybe Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw are not here, but remember that Shaw's character was killed; Dreyfuss probably had better things to do after winning his Oscar for "Goodbye Girl", or perhaps simply wasn't interested, but I'm thinking, maybe it would be too easy to just bring the Dreyfuss character back. I think it makes at least some sense that this time Brody is on his own. At least he has some idea of what he's dealing with.

As far as the "Jaws" movies that followed this one, all I can say is, if someone thinks "Jaws 2" isn't at least worth watching (and it is a lot more than just worth watching! ), you should see the other ones; (NOT!) both "Jaws III" and "Jaws 4" are awful (Michael Cane missed picking up his first Oscar in person because he was filming "Jaws 4". He was wasted in that film. He should have gone to the Oscars, finished the film, and fired his agent.). Fair warning.

This may not be the "greatest sequel ever made", but like "Damien: Omen II", it is a worthy sequel to a classic film; it has a good cast, good performances, it is well made, it is entertaining, and yes, scary.

As a film collector, I am more than happy to include this film in my library next to its classic predecessor.

The original Jaws is one of those movies that pretty much everyone has seen and it is well known for being one of film's scariest movies of all time. So scary that it sent people who were avid ocean lovers desperately shrieking back to shore, never wanting to swim again (Cmon, you know that if you are swimming in the ocean and that jaws theme pops into your head that you are going to FREAK out and want OUT of that water fast!).

Jaws 2 is one of the best sequels ever made (The only other better one I can think of off the top of my head is Aliens) and it hasn't gotten the credit it deserves. The shark in this film is angry and out for blood.

Where the predecessor won viewers over with suspense and pacing, this film takes off out of the gates like seabiscuit and doesn't relent. There are a lot more shark attacks and although the "cheese" factor is higher and the tone is less serious than the first, this movie really, really works!

This is certainly the best of the films, in my opinion. It is way scarier and far more entertaining. The first was groundbreaking and had some of the best characterization in cinema history...but if you want a little more fluff and a lot more fire-power, watch this one! It's worth it!