Les Dents de la mer, 2ᵉ partie

While Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" a dark, scary, and gripping thriller, "Jaws 2" is a scary movie for kids who don't really want to be scared. The imagination and unique style that Spielberg put into the original is sorely lacking here; this is merely a teenagers-in-jeopardy thriller as hordes of sailboating teens are terrorized by the giant killer shark. Spielberg did not expose us to the actual shark until much later in the film, which added to the heightened tension. We see the shark up close right away in this film, and it's no sense of terror. The shark chomps on water skiers, attacks boats, drags a helicopter out of the air and into the ocean, snacks on scuba divers, and the day is once again saved by Chief Brody (Roy Scheider.) With all this chomping and chewing going on, "Jaws 2" is oddly ineffective and unscary. While alot of kids were genuinely frightened and scared by the original "Jaws," this sequel is more like a carnival ride that provides a few thrills but is forgotten after it is over. The music by John Williams is absolutely fabulous and the atmosphere is sunnier this time around, but "Jaws 2" fails to satisfy. It's just alot of kids screaming and falling in the water. While the original is a horror masterpiece, this is an O.K. film for squeamish little children.

Four years on from the events of 'Jaws' the population of Amity Island have got on with their lives; the tourists have returned and they don't want to think about sharks. Then a couple of divers go missing and two women are killed in a 'boating accident'; Chief Brody is in charge of the investigation and after the body of a killer whale, complete with bite marks, washes up he is convinced that there is another great white shark in the waters round the island but the town council doesn't believe his claims. Then a group of youngsters, including Brody's sons, go out sailing... inevitably they have a run in with the shark and Chief Brody will have to take to the water again to try to save them.

Not surprisingly this isn't as good as the original film; that would have been very difficult. It is however pretty good. There are plenty of scary moments, certainly more than I expected in a UK-PG rated film. It starts well with the divers being killed as they explore the wreck of the Orca, the boat from the first film, and follows that up with an impressive explosion. We then get the chief's fears not being believed which did feel like a bit of a rerun of what happened in the first film. Things get better again when the youngsters sail into danger; the shark may be shown a bit too much and it looks no more realistic than that in 'Jaws' but the young actors do look genuinely terrified which helps make it acceptable. The cast is decent enough although Roy Scheider stands out with his fine performance as Chief Brody. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of the original.

Jaws 2 (1978) is currently available on Tubi. The storyline follows the same Massachusetts small town in the first Jaws and the PTSD that went with the original experience. The sheriff's children are older and now can boat on the ocean on their own...which only complicates matters when it appears another series of shark attacks have begun. This movie is directed by Jeannot Szwarc (Ironsides) and stars Roy Scheider (French Connection), Lorraine Gary (1941), Murray Hamilton (The Graduate) and Joseph Mascolo (Heat). The storyline tries to pick up nicely from where the last one left off but had too many recycled elements - like no one believing the sheriff despite the previous film, the mayor and sheriff not getting along, etc. I will give this film credit for doing a good job with more great underwater shots. They do a good job of presenting the family dynamic as well. There's also some fantastic horror elements in this including the helicopter scene and boat crash. Overall this is an uneven movie with some great elements that is a fun watch. I'd score this a 6.5/10.

If I were to make an appropriate comparison, Jaws 1 was a White shark bite, ferocious and huge, Jaws II would be a bite from a Blue Shark, still nasty, but lacking the ferocity.

The film reminds me of the Halloween follow up in so many ways, the first being a moment of cinema where the game was changed, a massive act to follow, both feel like a direct continuation of the first, both have quality, but lack the originality and impact of their predecessor.

Jaws II is slow to start, but as it gets going it really cranks up the tension, featuring some really good, tense moments. The shark has become a psycho killer instead of just a predator, and is now intent on killing its victims in the way Michael Myers did.

Some good strong special effects, I thought in several scenes the shark looked very realistic, I've never been a fan of the ending though, it's just a bit silly. Roy Schneider clearly did not want to do this film, and I think it shows in his performance, he is not happy.

It's a pretty good sequel, trouble is the original is a classic.

*** out of ****

As a sequel to an immensely popular classic, Jaws 2 had a lot to live up to, and while it doesn't reach the level of sheer terror of the original, it's still effective in creating thrills, some scares, and excitement. The biggest flaw is the pace, since the scenes on land drag on over and over. These moments hurt an otherwise entertaining and often fun motion picture.

The plot is mostly a re-hash of Jaws. It even takes place in the same town, Amity. It's been years since the first shark was killed and Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) begins to have his suspicions of another great white in the vicinity when two divers are reported missing, a boating accident that results in the mysterious disappearance of a mother and daughter, and a killer whale washed ashore with large bites all over it. Brody voices his beliefs to the mayor (Murray Hamilton), who, along with real estate developer Glenn Petersen (Joseph Mascolo), disregard this because of the current production of a hotel on the beach.

Brody's constant paranoia of the situation eventually gets him fired. Meanwhile, his two sons, Mike and Sean, sneak off to sail with a group of other teens. When another shark attack occurs and is confirmed, Brody sets off to find his sons before it's too late.

I've heard a lot of interesting things involving the making of this sequel. Apparently, Spielberg and Dreyfuss were interested in returning, but couldn't due to their filming of Close Encounters. The original story was supposed to be more character-oriented, without as much focus on the teens in peril, but when Spielberg had to back out the studio executives got nervous and went with Szwarc to make a more formulaic and "effective" sequel. Roy Scheider would be the only big star from the original who would return.

I'm a huge admirer of Steven Spielberg's film, and it would be hard for any other director to equal, much less surpass, his filmmaking techniques. Director Jeannot Szwarc does an overall solid job here. He knows what made the first film effective and holds off long camera shots of the shark for a while (in my opinion, maybe a little too long). The beginning of the film does a nice job of creating interest and a good set-up is appreciated. However, this set-up goes on a little too long. A half-hour would have been just fine, but Szwarc takes nearly 75 minutes for the film to focus on the shark hunting down the sailing teens.

You may wonder why I voice my complaint for this when in the original the shark didn't make it's first full appearance until near the end. Well, in that film's case there were three great characters (only one of whom returned) and some classic suspense sequences to crank up the tension (Dreyfuss and Scheider's exploration of the abandoned boat, anyone?). While Szwarc should be noted for trying to build up momentum, he slows down everything a little too much and thrill seekers looking for non-stop action may find it disappointing, and it might be more up their alley to look for Deep Blue Sea (which is considerably faster moving, though is an overall weaker film).

It is initially interesting to see how this sequel builds up its story with such scenes as the examination of a dead killer whale and a diver who runs into the shark, and it is quite entertaining to revisit Amity again, but Brody's constant back and forth debates with the town committee get tiresome after awhile. We know he's right and they're wrong and the film makers should have realized that these arguments get old quickly. To be fair, Scheider's performance does put in a bit more tension into these scenes, but it takes something more clever than that to keep things moving at a brisk pace.

The film does finally get moving in the last 35 or so minutes, and it's in those moments that make the film the overall effective sequel it is. The constant shark attacks deliver the goods. Szwarc knows how to milk tension into these scenes and doesn't disappoint. The finale is particularly an exercise in creating seat-gripping suspense. It's almost a match for the conclusion to Jaws. The final showdown between Brody and the shark is just as memorable and edge-of-the-seat as his final confrontation with the other great white in the original. John Williams' score is as effective as ever and serves to heighten the tension factor by a notch.

Admittedly, there are some implausibilities abound. Great whites aren't nearly that aggressive and for one that eats as much as it does, it's really quite hungry. The shark even pulls down a helicopter in one scene to presumably eat the pilot (In the TV version, there's an added scene of the shark trying to chomp the pilot). Brody's plan to kill the shark relies on quite a bit of luck, though I won't complain as much about this since it is the film's highlight sequence and is an example of masterful direction.

Most people tend to ridicule the visual effects in the Jaws series. In my opinion, they're more effective and significantly better than CGI renditions of animals seen in the more recent thrillers like Deep Blue Sea, Anaconda, and Lake Placid. Szwarc's high angle shots of the great white are the best, evoking a sense of terror by just looking at the top of this ferocious animal. With an animatronic shark, it's not nearly as mobile as what can be rendered by computer technology, but it beats having the animal look like a refugee from a video game. There are also other things that set this film above those aforementioned movies, such as restraint, seriousness, and no annoying over-reliance on mostly unfunny self-deprecating humor.

To mention how effective the script is would probably be a moot point. Anybody watching this movie wants to see it for the shark attacks. Howard Sackler and Carl Gottlieb do a reasonable job of repeating what was successful in the original story without completely ripping it off. This time around, there's no compelling monologue like Robert Shaw's retelling of the fate of the men on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, but the screenwriters can be credited for not writing any laughably ludicrous dialogue. When the stranded teens argue, everything they say is reasonable within the context of the situation they're in.

The film's performances are overall decent. Roy Scheider has always been one of my favorite actors; he's easily the best here and is very good as the man determined to save his sons. Martin Brody is still by all means a great character, and Scheider's portrayal of him as an everyman caught up in a terrifying situation makes it extremely easy to sympathize with him. Lorraine Gray is decent as his wife and though she gets more screen time than before she's still not given a chance to fully flesh out her character. And, boy, we all saw her character develop in Jaws the Revenge, but we all know how that turned out. Murray Hamilton and Joseph Mascolo are appropriately sneaky and sly as the town mayor and real estate developer. They're really not so much people as they are those who have to be wrong all the time. It's a cliche, and it's not as effective as it was in Jaws. I can't really say which actor who portrays the teens does the best job. They're all fairly equal and they are pretty good at not annoying us, which makes it easier to feel for them when the shark attacks begin.

It's basically like this: when the film takes place on land, it's sometimes slow-moving and not always interesting. When it's on water, it's often exciting and tense, with suspense that sometimes equals the original. It's definitely not as great a thriller as Jaws, but it is a worthy sequel and certainly is better than the likes of Deep Blue Sea, Anaconda, and Lake Placid.