Written by Carl Gottlieb And Howard Sackler
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
Martin Brody (to the shark): "All right, you big bastard! Come On! I've got something for ya' now! That's it! Attaboy, come one! Right over here! Open wide OPEN WIDE! SAY AAH!"
Now this and the next two movies are first time watches for me. Jaws becoming so popular it spawned threw bloody sequels. Are they any good? Not by reputation apparently but this first sequel was a decent attempt.
The film opened with the wreckage of the Orca and within a few minutes, two scuba divers ended up being killed. It's a good way to start the movie as of course, there would be another great white shark to cause havoc yet again.
Now, what about Martin Brody (Roy Scheider)? He was the hero of the previous movie but in this one, he's a source of ire for the incompetent mayor (Murray Hamilton) and lost his job to a younger colleague in Deputy Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer). Oh and then there's his family too.
While his wife Ellen (Lorraine Grey) was supportive, his sons were definitely a source of frustration. Both Mike (Mark Gunnar) and Sean (Marc Gilpin) were both drawn to the water and both ended up nearly being shark fodder.
The third act was where things got interesting. It's not quite as impacting as the first time but it's still effective. The shark got some victims, there's a few tense moments and of course, another grisly shark death.
- The most memorable aspect was the tagline "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water".
- Roy Scheider returned for this movie after leaving The Deer Hunter and not wanting to incur any further studio wrath.
- Standout music: Tony Hatch's Downtown.
- Chronology: Four years since the events of the first movie.
Jaws 2 turned out to be an okay sequel. It did rethread similar ground to the first one with the events of that also driving the narrative home. I didn't find it objectionable.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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