Being a better movie than Jaws 3D or The Revenge isn't a difficult task to accomplish. If you know the history of this movie, however, it's amazing it got made at all and, more impressive, it's amazing that the movie, for the most part, makes sense. As time goes on, I find it more and more watchable. Impossible to match the original, but it's as worthy a sequel as one should expect.
shareAs awesome as CGI has become, I’m amazed that they can’t simply take this film and the original and make the sharks more realistic(and re-release!).
Other than that, they have stood the test of time.
My teenage daughter loved this because she’s a fan of “That 70s Show” and all things of the 80s decade...and it came across to her as a serious “That 70s Show” episode.
It makes me giggle to hear her ask, “Oh my God...you dorks really dressed like that?!”
"As awesome as CGI has become, I’m amazed that they can’t simply take this film and the original and make the sharks more realistic(and re-release!)."
Blasphemy!
I've always liked it, Have you read the book Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel? Well worth reading if not. 👍
shareThis film erred in having so many teenagers at the center of the plot. There were some very effective and creepy scenes in this sequel, but in my opinion none of them involved the adrift teens. The best scenes involving the shark were: (a) the two divers at the beginning, (b) the helicopter attack, (c) the diver who got surprised by the shark about halfway through the film, and (d) Brody frying it with the undersea cable. The best of the rest of the film involves Brody, such as the development of the divers's film, his trying to convince the town council they have another shark on their hands, and his quibbling with the marine life expert who was analyzing the whale corpse. Some middling scenes that were much less effective than their counterparts in the original include the attack on the water skier (compared to devouring of Alex Kintner and the guy in the rowboat, say).
Unfortunately, this film had no chance to compete with the first. It's not just the absence of Spielberg. The 3 central characters from the first movie were all brilliantly drawn, distinct, and believable adults. In the sequel, Brody's character was contrasted only with the stereotypical dense, money grubbing local politicians, which is something the first film also had. Around this point in time, like with Friday The 13th, the studios drifted toward horror films featuring idiotic teenagers, presumably so they had an excuse to show some T&A from willing young actors.
That said, the actors playing the teens weren't as pathetic as what you'd see today. Keith Gordon was good, as he always was. The chubby guy Andy was played decently, as was the jerk Larry. Most of the others were pretty bad though, especially whoever played Mike and the girl from out of town he chased around. Also, way too much time was given to the beauty queen Tina and her dopey boyfriend, although his death was pretty effective, so far as it goes.
I give this sequel a passable 6/10.
I dunno...I kind of saw the different archetypes in that group and it worked for this film.
Not to mention taking the teenage “cruising” culture out on the high seas instead of the asphalt.
But there really wasn’t enough time spent on character development to the point where we cared enough about them.
LARRY was the leader- they almost always tend to live. Especially the son of the mayor of Sharktown.
BOB, his faithful follower.
TIMMY the geek(gotta have one).
DOUGLAS the goofball.
MICHAEL the gullible chump.
ANDY the wiseass comedian.
PAUL the crafty scrounger who scrounged up a case of beer.
LUCY the faithful who prayed for divine intervention.
MARGE the noble who gave her life for Sean.
TINA the beauty queen/priss.
JACKIE the useless whiner who we all wish would freaking die but didn’t.
After that we’re kinda left with...as you allude to...the superfluous/expendables:
BROOKE- the friend who sets up Michael on a blind date.
EDDIE- seriously...why did they pair this GEEK with TINA the beauty queen?
PATRICK- who’s just kinda there...but ya don’t even notice him.
I agree that an attempt was made to give the numerous teens some distinct character, but even that suffers from having too many of them to keep track of. For me, anyway, it diminishes any emotional investment I might've had even with more engaging characterization. The highly entertaining banter between Brody, Quint, and Hooper was sorely missed. Jaws 2 perhaps would have been better off with just Mike, his brother, and a couple of close friends fending off the shark, with 1 or 2 of the friends treated to shocking and gruesome deaths.
Of course, the magical trio of characters and actors up to the task of fleshing them out that Spielberg was fortunate enough to work with is rarely reproducible. The only sequel I can think of at the moment that able to do that was Godfather II. There are probably others.
"But there really wasn’t enough time spent on character development to the point where we cared enough about them."
Learn to speak for yourself only.
Also, the movie is about Brody and the shark, the teenagers are a side-show.
How long do you want this movie to be to be able to develop every of the teenagers characters in-depth? 5hrs?
“ The best scenes involving the shark were: (a) the two divers at the beginning…”
The movie version is ok, but the way it plays out in the book is downright creepy. One of the barrels on the Orca continues to float around, making a noise every time it bumps the boat. The way it’s written is great, and it creates a primal sense of fear, both for the characters and the reader. I’ve wondered over the years if it’s really that spooky, or if it’s simply the power of the original playing with us. It’s probably a little of each, but the book DOES get that scene right.
While not great, like the first movie, "Jaws 2" delivers the goods. It's basically just a continuation of the story minus Hooper (Dreyfuss) and Quint (Shaw), focusing more on a group of teens. The only problem with this is that the youthful cast lacks the acting chops of their elders, but they're passable and the cringe-inducing moments are kept to a minimum (pretty much). It was a good decision to include the teens because the first movie focused on adults, particularly in the second half, and "Jaws 2" does the opposite. Speaking of the youths, they're highlighted by a few cuties (Tina, Jackie and Lucy). The best scene is when the shark takes down a friggin' helicopter (!).
Amazingly, this sequel was made only three years after the original and cost 2½ as much (!), but made significantly less at the box office, even though it was still quite profitable.
"The best scene is when the shark takes down a friggin' helicopter (!)."
The longer version of this scene that was cut was even better. Very creepy. You can find it on YouTube.
It's a good movie to enjoy on a Saturday afternoon if nothing else is on. Nowhere near as good as the original but very entertaining. 3 and 4 are total garbage.
shareI've always liked it. It's a decent movie and the only sequel in the series worth a damn. The rest of them don't exist imo.
shareHonestly this is probably my least favorite of the sequels. While it’s nice much of the cast was brought back and the film tries a somewhat serious approach, none of it works. Also, the death of the female boater pulling the female skier is the most laughable moment in the series and that’s saying something. The other two sequels are bad but at least their kind of nuts and are fun to watch. Jaws 2 is boring most of the time.
shareYes, but have you seen Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws?
shareAnd it has the best moment in all the Jaws movies -- the shark bringing down a helicopter!
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