Tubarão 3

I had avoided seeing this film for fifteen years because of it's bad reputation and because I love the first Jaws as one of the greatest movies ever made. Having survived the horror of "Jaws: The Revenge" once, I decided to see if I could brave this one, though.

About the only thing that surprised me was that the premise wasn't quite as dumb as "Jaws: The Revenge" is. And while there is a reference to the events of "Jaws 2" at least they don't insult our intelligence with a shark pursuing one family etc. of any "Brody curse."

What sinks this film though is that it's dull in every sense. The FX are cheap and terrible and too often it's hard to figure out what's going on here. Scenes that could have been suspenseful with a competent director just plod along in a muddled fashion. In the end, Jaws 3 comes off more as a glorified made for TV type disaster movie with none of the high quality that elevates the original Jaws above such fare.

Jaws 3-D (1983) was not only a sequel to the first two JAWS films, but it was also one of the few movies that took advantage of the rebirth of the 3-D fad that was sweeping Hollywood during the early 80's (see Amityville 3-D and Friday the 13th 3-D). When the film hit the video shelves, they scrapped the whole thing. Why make a 3-D movie in the first place if you're not going to take advantage of it when it's available for the home video market? The video looked bad when it was released as a rental. Many of the scenes that were shot didn't make any sense or were badly projected. The movie did poorly at the box office and after a couple of years, no more mainstream films were presented in 3-D. The movie itself is pretty bad. Only for die hard fans of the JAWS series.

Not recommended, unless they re-release it in 3-D. other than that it's pretty much worthless.

I actually like this Jaws ok. I don't think it is a masterpiece or anything, but it is good if not taken to seriously. This one focuses on the Brodie boys who really went through a growth spurt. One (Dennis Quaid) works at a sea amusement park and this is where the shark attacks take place (this should alone tell you not to take the film to seriously). I actually saw this one at the theater too, so that helps to enjoy the film more as it was rather cool in 3-D and it is the only 3-D movie I have ever seen at the theater so maybe that is why I will always somewhat enjoy it. The plot is at a sea park like I said and first the team goes after this one shark that was rather puny, then you find out there is a bigger one out there. There are a couple of pretty good shark attack scenes and I loved the subplot of the people stuck in that pod underwater. This film isn't for everyone though seeing as how it is ranked as one of the worst so read other people's reviews before deciding to see it.

JAWS 3 is one of my favorite childhood movies, I was so glad they did not make JAWS 3 take place on Amity Island where it would be just another remake of the first JAWS like JAWS 2 was, they went in an interesting direction, took a gamble and to some it worked and to some it did not the same can be said for HALLOWEEN III which is also a good movie. Joe Alves is a great director and his vision for the film works for me. If I were to complain about anything it would be the lack of people being eaten by the Great white Shark, especially during the water skiing scene where no one die I think at least one person should have gotten the big bite. The underwater scenes were done very well and in 3-D looked fantastic, I think a lot of the bad rap JAWS 3 gets are from those who have only seen the 2-D version, it is a shame that theaters can't do 3-D anymore it would be fun to have these classic 3-D movies pop up at your local Multiplex from time to time. On a final note The soundtrack to JAWS 3 by Alan Parker is outstanding.

Mike Brody appears to be totally over the events that struck his family in his youth and now works in Florida's newest underwater attraction – Seaworld. His brother, Sean is less sure and never goes in the water – although a visit to see Mike and a new girlfriend help him confront his fear if not get over it. Meanwhile, something is picking off staff and swimmers getting Mike and the staff out on a shark hunt. They capture a small great white and take it into captivity, only for it to die when it is put in too small a tank. They think their problems are over until an examination of the bite marks on some bodies and they realize that the shark that did the killing is much, much bigger than the one they caught.

I saw this film as a child but couldn't remember if it was any good or not – my childish fears may have made it scary even if the film was poor, so I decided to give it a go again recently. The first thing that struck me was the sheer rubbishness of the effects. In the original Jaws, Spielberg had hidden the shark as much as he could because the effects didn't work (and also therefore upping the tension); however here the makers just decide to show anything – a poorly superimposed image, a rubber shark, fake severed arms and so on – none of them are concealed, they are all shown up in all their rubbish glory. I could forgive it this due to its age but two other films had already managed to handle this issue before this film so I don't see why they went this route when it so clearly didn't work. Some shots are so bad that they could have been mistaken for being a spoof (witness the shark swimming towards the control room).

Of course, after the poor effects the second thing that hits you is the laughable plot. True it is not as bad as part 4 in terms of plausibility but it is still pretty thin. No attempt is made to really give the characters any sort of, well, character and the very basic sea world plot just about manages to give the shark enough high profile feeding scenes to keep the film moving – just don't hold your breath for any logic or sense. In fact, the opposite is true and this film does deliver some moments that make you wonder what the writers were thinking when they conceived some of this stuff! The manner of Jaws' death here would be hilarious if it wasn't so darn pathetic. Even with the plot being poor the film should still have had at least a few moment of fear and tension – many of us fear being eaten alive so it isn't hard to draw on that, but this fails to have any tension or excitement to speak of. The effects suck a lot of this out – but a director who's name is listed in the dictionary alongside the work 'workmanlike' didn't do anything to stop the rot either.

Without characters the cast are set adrift with nothing to do – how Quaid must have envied Roy Schnieder in the first films, at least he was a good character. Quaid runs around the place, Armstrong screams, Putch broods, Thompson screams and Gossett tries to act tough in the middle of a script that gives him nothing to do. I don't blame the cast but I am disappointed that nobody mention how very bad taste it was to make a happy ending out of the dolphins surviving while so many other people had not!

Overall this is just a bad film. I'm not a big one for lists so I'll not play that game here but it is pretty much without any value at all. The plot is poor, the effects are rubbish, the direction is weak, the script just a load of nonsense and there is a total lack of tension, thrills or excitement. The original is a classic and this film is further proof that sometimes classics should be just left alone.