Jaws 2

• Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
• June 16, 1978
• Based on characters created by Peter Benchley

Brody must once again face off against a killer shark prowling the shores of Amity. Darn the luck!

Success usually leads to sequels in Hollywood. Jaws was no different. But how do you follow up something as original as the first film? You really can’t because anything you try will either be a rehash or just a ridiculous sequel or both which this is.

Rather than feeling like a sequel to Jaws, Jaws 2 feels like a pale imitation of Jaws. It takes all the elements of the first film and only slightly changes them. It doesn’t to do too much with anything. But it misses all the important stuff of the original. It took a surface look at the end product and did a poor imitation of that.

Jaws 2 is not as smartly written as Jaws. In the original the characters reacted intelligently, and events proceeded realistically given the basic foundation of the fictional world. Not so much here. Given their experiences last time the reactions and decision-making process of those on the island town of Amity as well as those in the local government really make no sense other than the writers putting characters in harm’s way in order to do another sequel. This doesn’t take place too long after the first film so one would think the memory of the shark attacks would be fresh in everyone’s mind.

There was also a certain level of shock to the previous deaths. Perhaps because they came out of nowhere from the character’s perspective. Here they can occur because of a stupid set of circumstances. When Bruce the Shark, Jr. is hunting one victim there is an explosion. To defend herself on her boat the woman is picking up a gas can and when the shark hits the boat she spills some on herself. And honestly, it looks like she’s purposely pouring it all over her body but that’s a different matter. Then she grabs a flare gun to fire it at the shark. It just seems like a lot of steps and they’re all stupid.

In Jaws, Brody’s (Roy Scheider) wife Ellen (Lorraine Gary) appeared to be a stay-at-home mom but in Jaws 2 she’s a full-fledged career woman. Good for her! Her job’s purpose when it comes to the story is really to quickly put Brody in conflict with local developer and town council member Len Peterson (Joseph “Stefano DiMera” Mascolo). They immediately have a minor sword fight over Ellen within seconds of being put together in the story.

Roy Scheider returns as Brody and is clearly not as into it as he was the first time around. He’s putting in a halfhearted effort compared to the first time. You get the feeling he’s trying to figure out exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing and didn’t take some other part in another movie. I cannot recall such the clear indication of a performer trying to figure out why they are there in any other movie I have seen.

The only real shocking moment in all of Jaws 2 is when Brody is on the beach and he finds some bodies. It’s just shocking, but other than that everything from the kills to the shark attacks is rather muted in comparison. Some of it is unintentionally humorous. The shark looks less like it is attacking and more like it is just, um, flopping around. And maybe that’s what it did in the first one but under Spielberg’s hand it looked more convincing.

They try to make this more personal for the character of Brody by putting his son Mike (Mark Gruner) squarely in danger. You can be forgiven for possibly not remembering Mike since he was significantly younger in the last one. Time marches on, I guess. Or it just made it easier to write a script. I did not expect Mike to not have aged but maybe something more in line with the timespan between films.

These were quite possibly the more unlikeable kids-in-jeopardy victims that could be created. I was almost hoping Bruce ate them. I would like to discuss the assorted possible victims, but they are all indistinguishable with the only real trait that they were annoying. 

Things kind of meander around until we get to the end. It doesn’t seem as if events are building towards that. Life is just going on until happenstance brings the shark and Roy Scheider into the same vicinity and the ultimate resolution to the story feels anti-climactic. It just kind of is. Or maybe what will be used to solve the shark problem is painfully obvious when first introduced.

But is Jaws 2 bad? Yes. Is Jaws 2 unwatchable? No but it’s not something I would recommend nor make repeated viewing out of. It does nothing new or original nor does it do a good job of imitating the first film. You won’t feel like you wasted your time watching it, but it’s certainly not one of those things worth seeking out.