Jaws 2 (1978) Review:

It's been agreed upon many times that people should not mess with the classics. No matter what the genre, some original films do not require a story to continue further. While the occasional sequel lands on its feet and strikes a memorable chord, very few do and don't live up to the hype. Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) revolutionized the way people went out to see movies. But what also made the film successful was just how close to home the film hit viewers. The reason for this was that the villain (the shark) was depicted like any other shark in natural wild life, mostly. As the story neared its end, it did become increasingly strange how the ferocious meat eater was able to have such a complex memory bank. Aside from this though, the story felt grounded and quiet realistic in its intent making people all the more scared to venture into the sea.

Roy Scheider returns

For the sequel, the story continues with Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) patrolling the beaches of Amity Island several years later. After a bunch strange occurrences where people end up missing, Brody begins to suspect a new shark has arrived in town. Meanwhile, his wife Ellen (Lorraine Gary), Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) and Len Peterson (Joseph Mascolo) try to keep things under control to the public. Also Brody's son Mike (Mark Gruner), who frequently uses his own sail boat is tempted to keep going out to sea thanks to peer pressure from his friends. Written by Carl Gottlieb (from the first film) and Howard Sackler (The Great White Hope (1970)), the script does a fairly decent job continuing the story. There are still parts though that make it not as effective as the original. Direction was headed by Jeannot Szwarc who would later direct the average spin-off Supergirl (1984).

The execution of the story is fine, because there are several scenes that viewers will genuinely care for with the characters on screen. Seeing Roy Scheider (even though he regretted) and other cast members return was an appreciated welcome. It helps give the fans of the original, characters they can get behind. It also seems that Ellen Brody and Jeff Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) are stepping up in the public spotlight. There's even a reference to Matt Hooper from the original film. Instead, this time Collin Wilcox Paxton comes in as Dr. Elkins, to help Brody identify the shark. The parts the screenplay suffers from the most though are moments involving the shark's motivations. The actions are more out of character than the last beast. However, that does not mean it doesn't entertain. The other flaw is that some subplots are just left unfinished, just like the original in some ways.

As for horror elements though, the scares are still there to some degree. Because this story is set in what is very much the real world, the peril certain individuals endure can be quite the experience and the acting from them is good too. Most of this goes to Mark Gruner and his other cast mates like Gary Springer, Donna Wilkes, Gary Dubin and Ann Dusenberry. Coming across a shark as big as the one from this or the original film would be very scary indeed. While there isn't as much dismemberment as the first film depicted, there's still blood and mangled corpses lying around. The effects were also just as great as the original. The shark no longer has that weird cheek flap over the bottom half of its mouth. There's also an easter egg to that of the Orca of the first film and a couple of pyrotechnic sequences for other visual flares.

"HAIIII GUYS"

As for camerawork, Michael C. Butler worked to provide the look of this film. While he was in no relation to Bill Butler from the first film, the cinematography is practically equal to that of original. The underwater scenes are shot competently, showing the viewer all kinds of angles. And so is any scene above water with or without the shark, Music was also another great component to the entry. Composed once more by John Williams, the score revisits it's very familiar thumping tune as well as adding in new motifs for the sailing scenes and underwater ones. It's its own score in a way and again equally matches the original composition created years before. Even luckier for collectors was the fact that the score was re-released completely with all other tracks. A very nice set to have.

Mostly, this sequel very much continues the intensity to that of its predecessor. The actors and the situations they get involved in are believable. The music is another classic addition and the camerawork is spot on to the original. The only problem this entry suffers from is more preposterous scenarios and maintaining the trend of not completing subplots.

Points Earned --> 7:10