JAWS 2 (1978)
But I'm telling you, and I'm telling everybody at this table that that's
a shark! And I know what a shark looks like, because I've seen one up
close. And you'd better do something about this one, because I don't
intend to go through that hell again!
We're back in Amity! And divers have discovered the Orca, but it looks like someone is still lurking around it and quickly takes a bite out of the unsuspecting divers. Meanwhile there's a new hotel opened up in Amity and summer is busier than ever. Chief Brody is back in business dealing with the locals' complaints about the summer folk.
But one afternoon a shark attacks a water skier and the boat and causes an explosion which is seen from off shore. Shortly after they find a killer whale that's been killed and the wounds look an awful lot like a shark. Brody is concerned that perhaps there's a shark that's come back to terrorize his town but no one believes him.
The camera from the original divers is recovered and Brody orders the photos to be developed. Meanwhile, he's back to patrolling the beach, making his wife and the mayor nervous. And after he sees a shadow in the water and begins shooting at it, alarming everyone on the beach, it turns out to be only a school of blue fish.
Everyone thinks he's losing it and when he finally gets the photos back and spots a sharks eye in one of the photos he demands to be taken seriously. Instead he's fired.
The next morning, Brody's son Mike heads out into the water to go sailing with his friends despite his father's warnings and he takes his younger brother Sean. But will the shark follow the group of teens in their boats? And will the town of Amity finally take Brody's warnings seriously, or will it be too late?
Alright...what did I love about this movie?
- JAWS IS BACK and this time he's not fucking around. He's killing everyone left and right.
- The helicopter scene was so implausible and bad ass as hell.
- Brody is up to his usual antics of staring off dramatically at the ocean.
- The Orca scene was awesome.
- "Sharks don't take things personally Mr. Brody."
- Lots of returning cast members.
- I mean...it was basically just a replay of the first movie only less awesome?
Weirdly enough as much as I love Jaws and consider it one of the best films of all time, I've never taken the time to watch the sequels. But all that is changing my friends!
As far as sequels go this is much to be expected - lots of explosions and shark attacks and disbelief about the shark. Lots of great one-liners and Brody moments. But it really does just feel like a lesser version of the first film. But I mean, back in the 70's and 80's, that's all sequels really were ya know? Studios were like...oh you liked that first one? Here's more of the same but more violent.
It did incredibly well at the box office though, and at the time of release was the highest-grossing sequel ever made until Rocky II came along. And the absolutely amazing tag line; Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.... is one of the most famous taglines in history.
What's sort of depressing about this film though is that the actor who plays Brody, Roy Scheider, had no interest in returning to the Jaws franchise and was basically forced into it by Universal. He had backed out of another film but still owed Universal more films, so they came to an agreement that if he did Jaws 2, it would count as 2 movies against his contract. He had no interest in being there and fought all the time with the director, Jeannot Szwarc, including once an actual physical fight.
But whatever, how can you not love this franchise? It's the most dramatic behind the scenes with all the movies and it really was the first film to make a shark terrifying. I remember seeing Jaws by accident when I was like 5 or 6 and being absolutely terrified for weeks of any kind of water. But when I re-watched it when I was a little bit older, the shark became my favorite creature and to this day I love sharks more than anything else (except maybe dogs) and am constantly promoting and donating and fighting for the safety of sharks.
In just a few days I'm off to Kauai and there are tiger sharks and white-tipped reef sharks and if I get to see one out in the wild, I may break down and cry.
Stay spooky!
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