JAWS 2

 

Last Summer I wrote a review on the Movie "JAWS". "JAWS" is known as a Horror classic because of how much it scares people. The film is known for its quotes, music, directing and disturbing images. The film won 3 Oscars and earned a Nomination for Best Picture. The film "JAWS" is one of my favorite films of all time, in fact I always watch the film every 4th of July and the film made it to number 4 on my top 10 list of films I reviewed in 2009. Three years a sequel was made for the film and since it's the middle of the Summer, I thought it be appropriate to review...

 

 

The storyline to JAWS 2 is very simple. Years have passed since the last Shark Attacks on Amity Island, however, another Shark comes to Amity Island to feed on People. Wow, another SHARK! One question, since when did Amity Island become Shark infested? Maybe it's another Shark that's taking revenge for the Shark that Brody killed in the first movie, if that's the case, why did it take the shark so long to take revenge because already chief Brody's son Michael is 17 and in the first movie he was a kid! Anyway, most actors from the first movie are in this movie playing their original roles. Roy Scheider (Chief Brody), Murray Hamilton (Larry Vaughn the Mayor), Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody) and Jefferey Kramer (Deputy Hendrix), and they do a good job, I just wish they had a better script to work with. The only disappointing thing in the casting is the absence of Richard Dreyfus, who played Matt Hopper in the first film; it would be nice to see him and the chief together again. He may not be in the movie, but the character is mentioned once in the film.

Here's what I like about the film even though I didn't like the idea of the plot for the movie, I'm still glad they kept the fictional Amity Island the way it was from the first film. However, some of the town has changed, but hey what do you expect after a few years. Another thing I like about the movie is the references to the first movie, yes, I know it's a sequel to the first movie, they have to talk about the previous film, but let me example why. The references talks about the little things from the first movie like Chief Brody's relationship with his youngest son Sean; how Chief Brody worries about his oldest son going on a Sailboat; and in a couple scenes (mostly in the scene when he sees the dead Whale), he remembers not only his encounter with a Shark, but he also remembers a couple things Matt Hopper has taught him in the first film. The film Jaws 2 is famous for its tag line "Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water..." which was later said again in a trailer for "JAWS the Special Edition". The film was also a success at merchandising. The film is once again produced by David Brown and Robert D Zanuck. But the film is not directed by Steven Spielberg, it's directed by Jeannot Szwarc.

The film is not really as scary as the first film, but I don't think anyone would find that surprising. There were some scenes that I found thrilling and inspiring, but the whole film wasn't scary in general. In a horror movie, I don't depend too much on the acting, I depend more on how scary the film is, but the acting (aside from the original cast members) in this film is not terrible, but it's not good either. In most classic horrors the screaming of a victim makes the scenes freighting, but the screaming in this film is so fake and annoying, I thought I was going to get a brain damage. In fact, when you hear screaming under water you can tell that most of that screaming was the same exact sound they used in the first film when Hopper was screaming in a shark cage. The score in the film was OK, but not as scary as the first film. I also found the film unrealistic like in the scene when the Shark pulls down a helicopter with its mouth. I'm not saying the first film was realistic, but it knew it's limits and didn't push it, a Shark taking on a helicopter, not buying it. 

Now for my opinions on the Shark. Throughout the film, we see the Shark and let me tell you, it's one of the reasons why the films not scary. In the first film, we didn't see a shark until later, and I mean much later on in the film. We knew there was a shark attacking people because we saw through the shark's eyes, heard the thrilling score, saw the blood and saw very little of the shark, now that's good directing! When we saw the Shark at the end of the first movie we knew it was fake, but it still had us covering our eyes every time it pops out. In this film, the Shark is so fake that it's NOT Scary. However, I did think that they were a little creative giving the Shark a Scar after when one of the victims tried to blow up the Shark earlier in the film, but still it didn't hide the fact that the shark was fake! 

This movie wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either it was more of an OK film.  

RATING 3/5