Jaws 2 (1978)
Starring: Roy Schieder, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Synopsis: Another hungry man eating shark shows up on the beaches of blighted Amity
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

Following up Jaws was going to be a nigh impossible task and realizing as much Steven Spielberg opted out of having anything to do with the monster sequel. After much wrangling and indecision, upcoming though still unknown and forever unpronouncable Jeannot Szwarc was drafted for the job every director needed but nobody wanted.

Looking back after all these years, the film is a decent enough effort and appears better still when compared to some of the other Jaws sequels dished out by Universal. It's a few years on from the Amity terrorized by Bruce, the shark from Jaws, yet it appears that word got out among the sharks that this is a good spot for chowing down because another toothy monster shows up and begins snacking on unsuspecting locals.

Yet again, Amity is going through financial hell and is as ever totally reliant on the treasures that the summer tourists bring in. We have the same sleazy Mayor and some of the same nasty locals who were so skeptical of poor Chief Brody in his effort to close down the beaches in the first movie. This time around there is a fancy summer regatta planned as the main event designed to bail out the town from its financial woes. Alas, our hungry shark has other plans. Chief Brody knows that a shark is back on the Amity shores but as usual no one believes him and in fact the poor fellow even gets fired when he causes panic on the beaches having spotted a shadow that he thought was the shark.

The film plays like a re-run, albeit much more predictable, of the original Jaws which isn't really such a terrible thing. There are several scenes where the director manages to inject a certain amount of tension and some good shocks as well. The water glider who manages to get out from the water just in the nick of time and the movement of floating debris in the water suggesting something lurking below….and of course there is that fabulous John Williams theme, full of menace.

The weakness of the movie is that instead of having fascinating characters like Quint and Hooper to keep things going, here we are treated to a bevy of typically amorous, brainless and snotty teenagers, rather like the fodder used in slasher movies. You actually want them all to get eaten! The climax too is a little over convenient. Yet, in comparison to Jaws 3 and the sublimely ridiculous Jaws 4 this one seems like a near classic. It is in fact a workmanlike follow up, largely a retread of the classic original but alas, shorn of much of its character. The shark this time around is less stiff than old Bruce was but still manages to appear rather mechanical especially when chewing!

A pat on the back for beleaguered Jeannot Szwarc who managed to produce a fairly decent sequel despite the horrors that apparently plagued this production. Maybe some day we will get a DVD of Jaws 2 with a commentary track so viewers can get an insight into some of the rumblings that went on during the blighted shoot. The film did reasonably well at the Box Office though the poor director struggled ever after. Roy Schieder wisely got off the Jaws bandwagon after this effort and poor fellow was killed off screen as mentioned in Jaws 4. Lorraine Gary reappears here and went on to star in the epic Jaws 4 and will hopefully star in the 5th installment when (and if) it goes into production!