Harry Situation’s Countdown Reviews: Jaws 2

We’re gonna need a bigger sequel.

Jaws 2 is the horror sequel to the classic Jaws, released back in 1978, with Roy Scheider reprising his role as Chief Brody, Lorraine Gary reprising as Chief Brody’s wife Ellen Brody, and Murray Hamilton reprising as Amity Island’s mayor.

The story is similar to the first. There’s another great white shark swimming the shores of Amity Island and killing off some people. Chief Brody, a little on edge after his last encounter, is convinced there’s another shark but the whole town is against him. Meanwhile, some teenagers are at the mercy of this ocean predator and it is up to Chief Brody to once again save his town.

I think everyone can agree that despite not being able to hold a candle to the original, this is the best possible sequel (although there’s no contest as you’ll see when I talk about the next two sequels).

So, the first positive is that Roy Scheider is back as Chief Brody. He was one of the best parts of the first film and he is easily the best part of this film. A fun fact: apparently Roy Scheider and the director of this film didn’t get along during filming and there were a few instances where things got physical. I like how Chief Brody is portrayed to be a little skittish after his first encounter with a great white shark. I don’t blame the guy. Who would want to go through that kind of hell again? Also, I like that he uses what he learned about sharks to defeat this one.

Another big positive is the film’s musical score. It’s John Williams again. I’m serious. John Williams composed the music for this film, and it sounds really good. Not as good as the first but still enjoyable to listen to.

And the new design for the shark looks pretty intimidating too. The shark has a sweet ass burn mark on its face after a woman failed to douse gasoline on it and light it on fire.

But of course this film does have its problems. Most notably is the fact that the whole town is once again against Chief Brody when he’s trying to convince them that there’s another shark swimming around their shores. It worked in the first film because it was during the summer time and it was tourist season. It seemed logical that the mayor and the town would be against him on it. But once it was made clear that there was a shark, the town suffered dearly. When Brody tells them that there’s another shark, there should be no reason not to disbelieve him this time. They should’ve been up in arms about it. What’s worse is that they fire him because they think he’s too paranoid. What the hell, guys? This is the guy that stabbed a shark in the face and then blew it up. He had more balls than any of them, and did what they couldn’t do. Why are they against him? Jesus H. Christ!

Another downer is that this film features teenagers. The can’t act for shit kind. Especially the guy that plays Chief Brody’s eldest son Michael. I think this film was his only acting gig. And the thing is, this film spends half the movie on them when there boats get locked together because the shark attacked them.

I think the big problem with this movie, and Chris Stuckmann brought this up when he reviewed the movie way back when, is that this movie was trying to be a slasher film. That’s not what the first Jaws movie was about. It was about building the suspense and successfully paying it off with good scares. We don’t want to see another movie where sex-crazed teenagers get the ax from the killer or monster. But too late, that’s what this movie is.

Overall, while Jaws 2 may not be as good as the original, it’s still a worthy sequel. If you’ve never seen it, or likely didn’t know it existed, check it out.

Positives:

-Chief Brody

-The shark

-John Williams’ score

-Worthy sequel

Negatives:

-Town against Brody

-Teenage acting

Final Grade: C+

You know, after this one I’m gonna have to review the two sequels that came after this, right? This is gonna get painful for me...

Best Quote:

Chief Brody: “You don’t have to worry about being sued or being ruined if this turns out to be what I think it is, because there won’t be anybody here!”

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