Movie Review: Jaws 2 (1978) directed by Jeannot Szwarc
It has been four years since the island community of Amity suffered a series of attacks by a great white shark. Most of the people have recovered, and things are looking up, with a new Holiday Inn ™ opening, and Len Peterson’s (Joseph Mascolo) real estate business is booming. But some disturbing incidents are occurring. Some scuba divers go missing, a speedboat explodes for no apparent reason, and a killer whale washes up on a beach with huge chunks bitten out of it. Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) becomes convinced that another man-eating shark has taken up residence in the local waters.
Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) is not convinced. After all, the one shark being near Amity was the result of a once in a lifetime fluke. All these incidents could be other things unconnected to each other. And Amity’s economy is finally back on track, another shark scare could kill the tourist trade. Even Ellen (Lorraine Gary), Chief Brody’s wife, is a little skeptical. And Mr. Peterson, her boss, is downright derisive.
When Chief Brody overreacts to a mysterious shadow in the waters off the public beach, shooting (cyanide bullets!) at a harmless school of bluefish, the town selectmen fire him.
Meanwhile, the older Brody son Michael (Mark Gruner) is in high school now, and participates in the local teen culture of sailing small, often improvised boats. (Even the stereotyped nerds sail!) His little brother Sean isn’t ready to help sail, but is old enough to want to tag along. When his father’s worries about the possible shark beach Michael with a terrible land job, Michael is easily convinced by a hot girl to go sailing with the gang anyway, and Sean is taken along because he threatened to fink.
Of course, as the audience has known all along, the killer shark is very real, and it’s up to ex-chief Brody to save the teens…or what’s left of them.
When the original Jaws was a huge success, the studio insisted on a sequel. Steven Spielberg refused to return as director, having done everything he wanted to do with sharks. The substitute director didn’t work out and relative newcomer Szwarc was tapped. After floundering around for a while, the director, writer and crew were able to cobble together a workable story. They were fortunate enough to get several key actors back, though Richard Dreyfuss refused, so marine biologist Hooper is “in Antarctica” for the duration.
The movie itself is pretty good, nicely shot and uses John Williams’ music well. Chief Brody’s emotional trauma from the first movie resurfacing and affecting his judgement is portrayed well, and it’s believable that the people around him begin to have doubts about his fitness for duty.
On the other hand, the shark’s behavior is ludicrously unrealistic, more like a serial killer than a wild animal. This peaks when the shark manages to take out a helicopter! I mean, it’s cool, but no.
Content notes: A couple of gruesome corpses, a touch of swearing, the camera lingers over swim-suited women’s butts. Peterson’s behavior towards Ellen is uncomfortably touchy-feely; in-movie it’s mostly treated as inappropriate because she’s married to the protagonist, but it’s also inappropriate behavior toward an employee in general and society’s attitude towards that has hardened.
Oh, I should mention that the reason that I’m reviewing this movie is because there was a big sticker covering up the “2” on the DVD cover, and I thought I was getting the original.
Still, this is an enjoyable summer blockbuster film and welcome in a time when most of us can’t get out to the beach.
