Jaws 2

Rating:
Summary: Worthy Sequel
Review: As far as sequels are concerned, Jaws 2 is not a bad follow-up to one of the greatest films ever made.The producers of course must have faced a near impossible task to do another segment of an all time classic, for while a sequel was inevitable due to the huge returns that Jaws brought in, the shape, development and style of the film had to be faithful to the original in varying degrees to ensure another commercial and artistic success on their hands and not just a lame imitation.
And surely they have had their share of difficulties with the sacking of the first director assigned to the task John Hancock, bringing in Frenchman Jeannot Szwarc,doing several rewrites, facing very harsh filming condition, before the final product hit the big screens.
And to be fair Jaws 2 has a lot going for it,
Firstly,hiring the same writers, production team,and keeping most of the old characters from the first film ensured familiarity to the viewer.Casting Roy Scheider again as chief Brody and Lorraine Gary as his wife, in addition to Murray Hamilton as Mayor Vaughn, the story of Jaws 2 was in a way a continuation rather than an imitation of the first film , and this alone guarantees a certain appeal.
The acting in Jaws 2, especially from Scheider is way above average,and the excellent scene when Brody is sacked and comes back to the arms of his comforting wife, is a short but valuable distraction into family drama territory.
Secondly, Jeannot Szwarc is an able director,who now concentrates on TV work( directing episodes of Ally Mc Beal and CIS Miami) but who has had good films to his name, most notably the underrated spy thriller Enigma and the romantic weepie Somewhere in Time.
While in Jaws, Quint's speech about the Indianapolis attacks was chilling and a classic, I felt that the last part of Jaws 2 with all the kids trapped in a sea of wreckage at the mercy of the shark was inspired directly by this incident.
Thirdly, the DVD extras are brilliant! The making of segment is 44 minutes long!! and you get a good insight into the making of the film and the difficulties they faced, while the deleted scenes although just three, are very interesting. For instance we see what happened to the helicopter pilot under water! and the voting of the town's council that resulted in the sacking of Brody.
Well of course Jaws 2 is not flawless, and what works against it in my opinion is the following,
First the shark does look more mechanical than it did in the first film. The fact that the writers decided to burn half of the shark's head at the begining of the movie in its boat attack/accident, somehow accentuated the mechanical look of the animal. Morever,the use of real shark footage from the stock of Ron and Valerie Taylor was minimal and not as much as in Jaws, which would have brought more needed authenticity to the look of the shark.
So Jaws 2 is a good follow up to Jaws, not as great as the first (no film in this genre will come close to that classic), but at least it is done with a lot of dedication from all involved, a movie that will still make you look at the ocean with a sense of trepidation and fear.

Rating:
Summary: Great sequal, but could have showed more BRUCE !
Review: This sequal was a good way to bring the hungry but vengeful great white back to the screen ,but they could have shown more teeth and less talk. But yet this sequal certainly has a nasty bite and is much more realisticly scarier than its following 3 and 4 episodes.if speilberg had directed the other jaws sequals they would have been just as legendary as the first one.

M.W.

Rating:
Summary: Not a necessary sequal.....another shark takes another bite
Review: Amity has been shark attack free for a few years....Brody is back to work.
And another shark smells food (a la human) off the coast of our New England town. His first victims: surveying divers photographing the Orca, which was sunken by the first Whitey White. How ironic!
So, more attacks happen, making Brody both eager to stop the shark, and full of anxiety as he remembers the first ordeal too well.
And since teen slasher flicks began popping out around everywhere in '78 when this was made, of course, teenage Mike Brody and his teen friends take their mini regatta shils out to sea for some fun. The teen slahing begins....er...teen chomping.

SHARK: 'sniff,sniff' "Hmmm, (licking chops)...myum myum, FOOOOD....."

As our shark chases the teens, the terror actually picks up and does scare us pretty good. The shark seems more of a brute than the first and much more daring, attacking a helicopter....wow.
Some of the deaths are (seriously) even more scary than the original master. Hardly any scenes are phony or drivel, just most of the film is not GREAT filmmaking like the first. Acting is nearly as good as the first. The hard part is watching a film that's had this happen to the same people before. The interesting part is that you feel for Brody, as his notions of another shark gets (not again...groan..)shoved aside by the dingbat Mayor, and then gets fired! This is different.

Teens scream, especiallly one girl.....who after a few of her screams, you hope one of her pals shoves her in the water.

This film is actuallly good, and quite scary....see, the first is such a monument of filmmaking (character development, scares, ideals, etc), while this one is mostly a shark feast, with good quality attack scenes, and even acting. They managed to get some more out of the JAWS stories and characters....just enough.

However, what are the chances of a shark even bigger than the other 25 footer coming to the same beach a few summers later?

I don't know.....huh? A fin.....huh-what the-AH ! Help! I've gone out too far- my boat! Get awway from my boat-hu-hu-AIEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!! (blub-blub-bloap)

Rating:
Summary: Inferior to the original but not bad
Review: When "Jaws" debuted and became a gigantic hit, Universal decided a sequel just had to be made. In the end, "Jaws 2" stands as a better-than-average follow-up although it doesn't match up to the original. It's back to Amity Island where the small resort town is slowly recovering from the economic troubles that first wave of shark attacks caused. But around the same time, another Great White Shark finds its way into the coastal waters and soon, the body count starts piling up. This time though, Police Chief Martin Brody stands alone in his belief that a shark has come back. There are several good things about "Jaws 2", the best being Roy Scheider, who gives another great performance as Chief Brody. Who knows what this film would have been like without him? The action scenes were well staged too. The movie does suffer from several creative flaws though. "Jaws 2" is supposed to be a horror movie but it isn't much of one mostly because it lacks the tension that made the original so good. I think it's better described as a sea adventure. At one point in the movie (between the second and third shark attacks) another problem surfaces, albeit a small one. During this time, the shark is forced to share the spotlight with Chief Brody as the plot begins to focus on his wonderings and fears about a shark being around. It wasn't bad in that it allowed us to see the emotional strain that Brody has suffered but it sort of took away from the shark. As for the teen characters, they were OK but maybe they weren't the best idea. They didn't have much to do except become bait for the shark. Its shortcomings aside, "Jaws 2" is a decent movie. Check this out but be wary of the next two sequels. I haven't seen them but I hear they are much worse.

Rating:
Summary: An Underrated Film; Not "Godfather II" but Well-Made, Acted.
Review: 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.
This film was released on DVD fairly recently. I already had the laserdisc and it looked nice but I just bought it on DVD. I must say, it really looks great!! The bonus materials are interesting.
As a film collector, I am more than happy to include this film in my library next to its classic predecessor.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the book!
Review: This film is a GREAT addition in the series!
It is better than Carl Gottlieb's book even! the characters are GREAT! and Roy Scheider once again shines as Chief Brody! I loved this film in the theatre and now its on Dvd! yeah yeah the shark still looks fake , however its the characters that make this film so GREAT! that and watching some people get munched again is all fun!
a Fun film and a MUST buy for Jaws fans!

Rating:
Summary: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...
Review: Another great white shark terrorizes the summer resort of Amity, 4 years after the first film's events. JAWS 2 has a bigger plot, bigger body count and is more action-oriented than the original. I actually prefer this one more than the original classic.

I think the perks of this film, like I have mentioned is the fact that it is more action oriented than the original film. As soon as 2 divers get attacked examining the wreck of the "Orca" (Quint's ship), the film goes into high gear. The shark in this one I think does have some sort of outrageous vendetta against Police Chief Brody and the Amity people because he does the most wicked things! I mean, he attacks the divers by where his "older brother" was killed, he kills a water-skier and punches a hole through the boat that was pulling her, trying to capsize it but instead blowing up the boat and the driver to smithereens, he manages to attack several teens sailing, ripping through their boats and eating one of them whole, and also capsizes a harbor patrol helicopter and eating the pilot(!) before being electrocuted and fried to death on an underwater cable by our hero Martin Brody. I wasn't sure that sharks were able to do this but more power to "Bruce II" if he can do that sort of stuff! It's not nearly as bloody but there is a bigger body count. Its a good flick people, as long as you watch it with an open mind and not making comparisons with the first film. Rent it!

Rating:
Summary: Good comeback....wasn't really necessary
Review: Another shark terrorizing Amity isn't impossible or implausable. It already gets to be a bit of the roll of the eyes....

Roy Scheider thankfully gets to be the Chief again. Sure, Quint is dead, and Hooper didn't have time to get there...(lol). The mayor again gets prideful and ingnores the facts of evidence that it's another shark gobbling up people.

THe kids are grown up some. Entereing a boat race with pals gets terrorized by the gaping Shark a farily bit....oh, yeah. In this, the terror is more plentiuful here. As scary as the original classic? Some parts-ya! It doesn't carry gold in a script as it's boss....yet it does really give some depth into terror and not some screaming teens just saying AHHHHHHHH. Sometimes they do, but not to junk the movie....

Just wasn't needed....but its a samn good horror flick.

Highpoints : The opening dive scene to the sunken Orca.....SCARY>>>>>

Lowpoint: That annoying screaming girl...GO AWAYYYY....YAA.....(oh-just gobble her up Jaws-somebody push er in......lol)

So, rent it ....not a classic....still a fair sequal to the boss...a fin...hmm.....huh???!!! Ah! Coast Guard! I went out too far to sea! Helllllllp...

Rating:
Summary: The best sequel ever!
Review: Just like the first Jaws 2 was wondeful.The best sequel I have ever wached. A greit whait shark intrudes a small town called Amity again. So it wasnt a Steven Spielberg film. How cares it was a great moive.

Rating:
Summary: a 25 foot Great White could pull over that tiny helicopter
Review: I have to say, my friends laughed when the shark pulled down that teeny tiny chopper, but I thought it was sweet, not the cute sweet, but the cool sweet. I mean, look at how small it was, and look at how big Jaws was. ...
There was also a great ... seen right after that. Sean is stupid enough to stay on the up-turned boat on his own, and when they move apart he falls in. Of course they wouldn't [destroy] Sean, at least not until the 4th movie, so some girl who doesn't have a name, (she probably does, you just don't hear it) jumps in to save him. Sean gets out, she almost gets out but than Mr Shark eats her almost whole, bad way to go.
The shark seemed smaller this time, though it was the same robot, and I've figured out that each shark had a personality.
THe first shark was the boss type shark, the second was that henchman who's really hard to [destroy], the third was the big goon, and the 4th was the tiny goon trying to be cool.
A good sequel, though Jaws The Revenge was weak.